Toxic chemicals caused seaport fire

HIGHLY FLAMMABLE toxic chemicals that were not declared were found inside the burnt cargo at Laem Chabang Seaport in Chon Buri province, the Thailand Port Auth- ority disclosed. After the fire broke out onboard the South Korean ship KMTC Hongkong while docking at Laem Chabang Seaport on Saturday morning, Port Authority director Kamolsak Phromprayoon revealed yesterday that 18 out of 35 remaining cargo containers on the ship held calcium hypochlorite and chlorinated paraffin wax. These are not only highly toxic to human health and environment, but also very flammable and can ignite by themselves.Kamolsak said after a lot of effort, the port officers successfully put out the fire late on Saturday. The investigation team was sent yesterday morning to inspect the damage at the scene. The inspection team found calcium hypochlorite in 13 cargos and chlorinated paraffin wax in five other cargos, so it could be concluded that the ignition of these toxic chemicals is the most plausible cause of fire. A preliminary report on Saturday had said there were no toxic chemicals onboard and the cargo only contained dolls. He said the owners of the shipments had not declared these toxic chemicals to the Thai Customs Office, so the officers did not know what was inside the cargo.