Additional charges are to be field against the management of the Win Process company in Ban Khai district of Rayong province, following a fire at a warehouse, in which chemicals were being stored, about two weeks ago.

Rayong’s provincial governor has instructed officials to file charges against the company’s management for illegal possession of hazardous chemicals, after it was discovered that more warehouses in Muang district, also owned by Win Process, contain hazardous materials without the required permits.

Experts were sent to the warehouses to identify the chemicals stored, before they are moved to other locations to prevent fires.

Chemicals at the warehouse in Ban Khai district are still leaking into the pond, raising concerns that contaminated water may leak into the environment when it rains.

Three more ponds are being dredged to prevent leakage from the warehouse compound.

Democrat party deputy leader Suchatvee Suwansawat has visited the warehouse and spoken with community leaders in the neighbourhood during the weekend. He said that the party will raise the grievances of the people with the government.

Meanwhile, director-general of the Department of Primary Industries and Mines, Aditad Vasinonta, said that the first shipments of cadmium slag, transported from Bangkok and Samut Sakhon to Tak province, are now safely stored in a warehouse.

He said that the floor of the warehouse had been paved, to prevent the cadmium from seeping into the ground, adding that a drainage system has been put in place to prevent contaminated water from leaking into the environment.