SITTWE, Rakhine State — Nine employees of the General Administration Department in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu Township and a firefighter were injured in an explosion inside the department’s compound on Tuesday evening.
The explosion occurred as staff were burning garbage at the back of the office building, according to township administrator U Soe Moe Kyaw.
“We are still investigating the cause of the explosion. Two staff members were slightly injured and eight others were sent to hospital,” he told The Irrawaddy.
One of the victims sent to hospital is a firefighter who came to pick up his wife, who works for the department.
“He gave the others a hand while they were burning the garbage and he was also hit when the explosion occurred,” U Soe Moe Kyaw said.
Kyaukphyu residents speculated that the staff might have been burning explosive remnants of war together with the garbage.
Capt. Kyaw Zaw, head of the Kyaukphyu Township police station, said there was no explosive device involved and that the eight hospitalized victims were not in critical condition.
“None of them was seriously injured. We found old computers and accessories, stones and glass splinters at the scene. They were hit by those splinters. If it were a bomb, they would have all died,” he told The Irrawaddy.
Police have not opened a case as they believed it was an accident, he added.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
