Overnight, a bomb blast rocked the Thai capital of Bangkok, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 100 at the Erawan Shrine, a popular tourist spot in the city.
DFAT and the Australian Embassy have not yet confirmed whether any Australians were killed, but singer Jimmy Barnes, who was in Bangkok at the time, witnessed the blast, and narrowly escaped tragedy with his family.
Barnes, along with his wife Jane, daughter, son-in-law and grandson, met with Fairfax journalist Alan Parkhouse, and were walking to dinner at an upmarket hotel when the bomb exploded.
Parkhouse later wrote:
Jimmy, Jane and I tossed up whether to walk on the footpath past the popular religious shrine on the corner, which was always crowded with worshippers and tourists, and then across the road.Our other option was to take the overhead bridge that linked their hotel to Bangkok’s Skytrain. There was another overhead walkway from the Skytrain through a shopping centre and into the Intercontinental Hotel. We opted for the overhead route – a decision that probably saved our lives.We had just walked right above the spot where the bomb had gone off and were about 50 metres away when the blast shook the walkway and the glass almost shattered. It was a really loud explosion and Jimmy, Jane and I knew it wasn’t thunder, a car backfiring or fireworks.
The group rushed back to the foyer of the Erawan Hotel, where Barnes and family were staying, and Parkhouse described scenes of tourists in a panic, and flames on the intersection they had recently crossed.
“It was a night to remember, and we all thanked our lucky stars that we took the overhead route and hadn’t walked across the road,” Parkhouse said.
We have been able to cross back to our hotel. Bombs diffused. Bodies still covered on road, terrible, so sad #bangkok pic.twitter.com/TQm3xqq8w2
— Jane Barnes (@jane13barnes) August 17, 2015
via Fairfax
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