8 Killed in Thai Bank Chemical Accident

Eight people were killed and seven others injured at a Thai bank’s headquarters Sunday night when workers accidentally released fire-extinguishing chemicals during maintenance. The accident happened in the Siam Commercial Bank’s basement and was the result of “negligence on the part of our contractors hired to improve fire protection in the building,” company officials said. Workers were upgrading a fire-extinguishing system in a document archive room and reportedly released Pyrogen aerosol, which is used to deprive fire of oxygen in environments where using water would damage important materials. The bank identified the people who died as a security guard and seven contractors.