SCB to take care of casualties from firefighting system malfunction

BANGKOK, March 14 (TNA) - Bangkok-based Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) has promised to take responsibility for people killed and injured in an incident at its headquarters on Sunday night, initially assumed to have caused by a firefighting system malfunction. The SCB management told journalists on Monday morning that there was neither a fire nor an explosion on the basement of the SCB headquarters, the location of the incident, at about 9:30pm on March 13 when the incident took place. Police initially assumed that the malfunction resulted from a mistake of a contractor tasked with improving the firefighting system of the SCB headquarters, situated near the Ratchayothin Intersection on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok. The system then accidentally released the pyrogen firefighting agent, which consequently got rid of oxygen, killing eight people and injuring seven others who were hospitalized, but the building was not damaged. The SCB management expressed their regret for the incident and promised to offer proper assistance to all victims. The SCB head office opened for its services as usual on March 14. (TNA)