An explosion occurred at a fireworks factory in Thailand, killing at least 23 people, officials said.
Rescue workers at the scene, about 60 miles northwest of the capital, Bangkok, said no survivors were found.
The cause of the explosion in Suphan Buri province is being investigated, but police confirmed that there had been a previous explosion at the factory, in November 2022, in which a worker was killed.
Pictures posted on social media showed a thick column of black smoke rising above the site of the explosion in an uninhabited rice field.
This came less than a month before the Chinese New Year in February, when demand for fireworks is strong.
It is feared there are no survivors. Photo: AP
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The office of Prime Minister Sritha Thavisin, who is in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum, distributed a video showing him being told over the phone by the regional police chief that there were between 20 and 30 workers at the factory at the time of the explosion and that none of them could be found.
The disaster occurred less than a year after a major explosion in a fireworks warehouse in the south of the country killed at least 10 people and injured more than 100, according to officials.
The explosion occurred in Narathiwat Province in a residential area and damaged about 100 homes in a radius of 500 meters (1,640 feet).
