A tank containing aviation fuel for supply to Suvarnabhumi airport was set on fire early Wednesday morning and the attackers probably used a rocket propelled grenade, police said.

The attack at the Thai Petroleum Pipeline Co (Thapline) fuel depot in Pathum Thani's Lam Luk Ka district occurred about 1.15am.

Energy Minister Wannarat Charnnukul said this morning that according to a preliminary police report, a tank containing aviation fuel was set on fire by one of two M79 grenades fired into the Thapline grounds. One failed to explode.

Pol Lt-Gen Krisda Pankhongchuen, the Region 1 Provincial Police chief, said later that two investigators - Pol Maj-Gen Methi Kusolsang, the Pathum Thani police chief, and Pol Col Preeda Pongsethsan, deputy forensic police chief of Pathum Thani - had since examined the scene and reported the tank had likely been hit by a rocket propelled grenade (RPG).

They had recovered an RPG fragment near an oil tank.

He said the RPG round made a hole about one and a half inches in diameter, penetrating the steel tank and setting the contents on fire.

The fire had been extinguished in about an hour and the hole had been plugged.

The investigators suspected the RPG had been launched from the motorway, about 100m away.

Mr Wannarat said the tank was only half full.

Mr Wannarat said that before the rally by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) the Energy Ministry set up a war room to maximise security at oil depots, oil refineries, power plants and transmission lines.

He said the attack took place despite the precautions against sabotage. The minister admitted it was difficult to protect the Lam Luk Ka oil depot from being attacked from a distance.

Mr Wannarat said there was an attempt to sabotage the transmission facilities at Wang Noi power plant last week, but did not give details.

This morning's attack did not affect the supplies of aviation fuel to Suvarnabhumi airport because Thapline has a total of 19 fuel tanks. Most fuel is supplied to the airport through a pipeline.

"I would like to make a plea to any groups which may be involved not to aim to destroy public property, becausing doing so could cause the people to suffer.

"Oil and electricity are important commodities for the country," said the energy minister.

Anuporn Assadornnithi, Thapline's manager for operations, said security guards reported that they heard an explosion about 1.15am in the oil depot, and the fire started immediately afterward.

Emergency teams rushed to the scene and were able to extinguish the blaze by about 2.30am. There were no injuries.

Atthapol Rerkpiboon, PTT vice executive president for communications and social affairs, said PTT, a major shareholder of Thapline, had been informed of the incident.



I used to live near this place and know exactly where it is. It used to be quite isolated area but has since the suburbs sprawled out become nowhere near as isolated as it used to be. I also know that aviation fuel, or to be more precise, the gases are extremely volatile and for a tank to be half full also suggests to me that it was half empty ....

Now unless they had filled up the void with an inert gas, that whole tank would have blown up and probably caused a domino reaction too. Me thinks there is something a little wrong with the reporting here. Anyway ..... who would do such a thing?
Answers on a postcard pls.