Gas explosion injures staff, wrecks hotel building

The Canal Ratchaburi hotel in Muang district of Ratchaburi, severely damaged by the cooking gas explosion on Tuesday morning. (Photo: Pathom Borommarachanusorn Foundation)
The Canal Ratchaburi hotel in Muang district of Ratchaburi, severely damaged by the cooking gas explosion on Tuesday morning. (Photo: Pathom Borommarachanusorn Foundation)

RATCHABURI: A cooking gas explosion injured four people and caused major damage at a hotel in Muang district on Tuesday morning.

The explosion occured at The Canal Ratchaburi hotel, which has 31 rooms, in tambon Huai Phai about 9.30am.

The explosion blew the front out of a two-storey building in the hotel grounds. 

Officials said  three women and one man were rushed to Ratchaburi Hospital with severe burns and bleeding wounds.

They said the building was used as an event venue. It was thought employees forgot to close the valve of a 45-kilogramme cooking gas cylinder, which subsequently exploded.