INVESTIGATORS on Sunday remain no closer to determining the cause of the blasts and the fire in the Honda Accord, which was just 12 months old. Driver Supachai Jongchanasettakul, 35, who owns a construction company, has been released from hospital. Police bomb experts are continuing an investigation.


A MAN was undergoing surgery tonight after being badly burned in a car outside Tesco-Lotus supermarket in Phuket City this evening. Shoppers heard a blast, then saw the vehicle, a Honda Accord, burst into flames.

The blast and fire came about 5.30pm, causing traffic chaos around the well-known intersection.

A fire truck had to battle to the scene to extinguish the blaze. A passing ambulance from the Karon rescue service detoured to the area and took the man to Bangkok Hospital Phuket, where surgeons were operating on the burned man tonight.

Rescuer Sahutsanai Nakin said: ''I saw two men trying to help the burns victims from the car. The man was badly burned.''

He said that the people at the scene told him they hear an explosion from the Honda Accord, but it did not burst into flames immediately. Then there was a second blast, and the fire.

Police and fire officers are investigating the cause of the blasts and the blaze.

Passing motorist Sareepab ''Pai'' Meekaewnoi said: ''We were stuck in traffic for about 20 minutes, going both ways down the Bypass Road. The scene of the blaze looked very nasty.''