Scores wounded by explosion near Erawan shrine in centre of Thai capital
Bangkok explosion: witness reports
Bangkok bomb in pictures
Explosion outside Bangkok shrine ‘captured on CCTV’
7.47pm BST
7.31pm BST
Things are apparently beginning to wind down in Bangkok, as a clean-up operation and investigation continues into a bomb blast outside a Hindu temple in the early evening. Here is a final set of pictures of the scene outside the Erawan shrine.
7.15pm BST
Thais living in Bangkok have rushed to answer calls for blood donors and Chinese interpreters after the deadly bomb attack that struck the city, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports.
Khonnnon Jathrakul told the German news agency he was far from the city centre when the blast shook the Erawan shrine in the early evening, but he raced to answer pleas for people to give blood to help the injured.
7.03pm BST
Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, has tweeted this statement:
I strongly condemn the blast in Bangkok. My thoughts are with the families of the deceased. I pray for a speedy recovery of the injured.
7.00pm BST
The Bangkok Post, which is understandably leading the world on reporting the bomb attack, is now reporting that the death toll is up to 19.
19 killed, 123 hurt as bomb blast rocks Bangkok tourist attraction http://t.co/9onrLXI8dk #BreakingNews
Names of 7 foreigners being treated at Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. Another 2 Chinese cannot be identified. pic.twitter.com/LT1LqsAZYr
6.56pm BST
Here are two more tweets with pictures of the scene of the explosion at the Erawan shrine.
Damaged sign outside Erawan. Not tweeting covered bodies. pic.twitter.com/M7clnp9X3q
Injured man taken to ambulance outside Hyatt pic.twitter.com/AU9HOvbfQk
6.39pm BST
Australians Leify, 27, and John, 33, were walking across the sky bridge at the Intercontinental Hotel when the bomb went off. The pair, from Sydney, had just this morning flown into Bangkok from Rome. They spoke via WhatsApp and phone to Carmen Fishwick, Guardian community editor.
We were crossing the sky bridge near the Intercontinental Hotel, and we heard this explosion directly beneath us. We fell to the ground. The blast was so big, there was so much smoke and the fire came up so high. There was fire, shrapnel and so much smoke. The whole ground and everything shook. I thought everyone was going to fall. We couldn’t see anything around us. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.
After the blast, we ran down the stairs. We saw people crawling around the road with missing limbs. People’s bodies were scattered, their legs were torn off and there was blood everywhere. Everyone was running. It was quite chaotic. Our ears were ringing and our heads hurt. People didn’t know whether to run or help.
Related: Bangkok explosion: witness reports
6.24pm BST
A picture from inside the Grand Hyatt Erawan, just yards from where the bomb went off, shows glass littering the ground after the windows were blown out by the blast.
Grand Hyatt Erawan affected by Bomb Blast #BangkokBomb #Bangkok pic.twitter.com/PJ2tmMFfy8
6.18pm BST
The Associated Press has filed this background on the Erawan shrine, a Hindu temple that is nonetheless popular with Buddhist Thais and Chinese tourists.
The Erawan shrine is dedicated to the Hindu god Brahma, but is extremely popular among Thailand’s Buddhists as well as Chinese tourists. Throngs of tourists come there to pray at all hours, lighting incense and offering flowers purchased from rows of stalls set up on the sidewalk along the shrine. The site is a hubbub of activity, with quiet worshippers sometimes flanked by Thai dancers hired by those seeking good fortune, while groups of tourists shuffle in and out.
In March 2006, the shrine was vandalized by a man who smashed the statue of the four-headed Brahma with a hammer. The man, believed to be mentally ill, was lynched by bystanders. A new Brahma statue was installed at the shrine within months, and was not damaged in Monday’s blast.
6.16pm BST
The official number of people killed and hurt by the bomb has been revised up for a third time, the Associated Press reports.
At least 18 people are confirmed dead and 117 injured, the agency said, citing the Narinthorn emergency medical rescue centre.
6.08pm BST
This graphic calling for people to “pray for Bangkok” is being shared widely across Twitter and Instagram as people express their shock and dismay at the bombing in the city.
R.I.P. IN BANGKOK pic.twitter.com/oDY0yUbaDZ
6.04pm BST
A reminder that we are keen to hear any eyewitness accounts of what happened at the Erawan shrine today.
Are you in Bangkok? Did you witness the explosion? You can contact the Guardian using Whatsapp on +447867825056, but please stay safe. Terms and conditions here.
6.00pm BST
These are the latest pictures from the scene outside the Erawan shrine as firefighters, paramedics and police clean up after the explosion there earlier.
5.49pm BST
The Thai government has posted this statement, attributed to Maj Gen. Werachon Sukhondhapatak, on its website. The bullet points are their own:
5.38pm BST
The Foreign Office has distributed this terse statement regarding the attacks in Thailand earlier today. A spokesperson said:
We are in contact with local authorities and urgently seeking further information following reports of an explosion in Bangkok.
5.22pm BST
Hospitals close to the scene of the bomb attack are calling for Chinese translators to help interpret for those injured, the Bangkok Post reports. According to the paper’s story:
Most of those injured in the explosion were said to be predominantly Asian tourists, with the majority taken to Police General Hospital and Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, both of which were appealing for blood by 8.45pm
Both hospitals also were calling for Chinese translators, as many mainland visitors were among the injured. The Japanese embassy said it is rushing to confirm whether any Japanese were caught in the blast.
5.10pm BST
The blast in central Bangkok this evening occurred inside the Erawan shrine, national police chief Somyot Poompummuang said, correcting earlier reports that it was on a motorcycle parked outside the landmark.
Police are now saying the device was made from a pipe wrapped in cloth, the Associated Press reports. The agency quoted Somyot as saying that officials initially believed that a second bomb had been found in a bag nearby, but that it had been determined to be harmless. The police chief added:
Those who have planted this bomb are cruel. They aim to kill because everyone knows that at 7 p.m. the shrine is crowded with Thais and foreigners.
Planting a bomb there means they want to see a lot of dead people.
5.00pm BST
At least 10 Thais, one Chinese and one Filipino citizen are among the 16 dead, according to the Thai police chief in the first breakdown of the official death toll.
The blast struck at about 6.30pm local time when the Erawan shrine was packed with worshippers and tourists. More than 80 people have been wounded, including some foreigners, AFP is reporting. According to the agency’s latest:
There were chaotic scenes at Chulakongkorn Hospital, one of a number of nearby medical facilities that received victims as nurses ferried the injured on gurneys.
One man who was conscious had visibly burned hair and a number of cuts that were bandaged, an AFP reporter on the scene said.
4.54pm BST
Oliver Holmes, the Guardian’s south-east Asia correspondent, is based in Bangkok. He has posted these tweets from the scene of the explosion
Bangkok blast scene. pic.twitter.com/Bqr0CrqCBF
Medics sit on the road at the Bangkok blast site. pic.twitter.com/suTfteUueE
Stretchers and wheelchairs outside the nearest hospital to the Bangkok blast. pic.twitter.com/JeFLq50G9b
Blast scene about one hour after the Bangkok bomb. pic.twitter.com/QALgP8rqWe
4.46pm BST
Guardian correspondent Oliver Holmes has the latest from the scene
Medics and police formed a line at the large intersection and walked slowly forward, looking for any debris from the blast.
4.33pm BST
The spot where the bomb went off is surrounded by high-rise buildings. The shockwave from the explosion was so powerful it blew out windows as high as five storeys above street level, according to this tweet from an eyewitness.
The blast was so strong. Windows on 5th floor on nearby building shattered pic.twitter.com/i2vjIWUfBh
4.29pm BST
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon has told a press conference that the motive behind the attacks is still unclear, although suspicion is falling on Muslim separatists who are staging a low-level insurgency in Thailand’s south.
Wongsuwon told reporters: “We still don’t know for sure who did this and why. We are not sure if it is politically motivated, but they aim to harm our economy and we will hunt them down.”
Car bombs are almost unknown in Bangkok, but have been used in southern Thailand, where a Muslim separatist insurgency has been flaring for several years.
The last major bombings in Bangkok occurred on New Year’s Eve at the end of 2006, when a series of bombs at celebrations around town killed at least three people and wounded dozens.
4.26pm BST
Channel 4 News has published this dramatic footage of the aftermath of the bombing, showing emergency crews treating the injured.
4.25pm BST
The official death toll from the blasts earlier today is rising, AFP reports.
“The death toll is now 16,” police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri told the French news agency. An emergency medical centre said more than 80 people were injured in the massive blast, AFP’s report said.
4.24pm BST
The Foreign Office is warning British travellers in Bangkok to “monitor media and take care”. As yet there has been no official announcement from the FCO, but they have posted this tweet:
#Thailand http://t.co/OLgPoazfBE Explosion in central #Bangkok. There are reports of casualties. Monitor media and take extra care. #alert
4.20pm BST
Eyewitness reports are beginning to come in from around the scene of the blast in Chidlom, a central district of Bangkok.
British tourist Tamar Johnson, 20, is on holiday in the city with his family. She and her sister were in a hotel bar minutes away from the explosion. He told Caters News Agency:
Me and my sister were in the sky bar at the Lebua hotel when we heard a huge explosion. At first we thought it was just thunder because there’s been electrical storms all day so we didn’t think much of it.
Then my mum phoned me from the hotel. She was shouting about a bomb so we sprinted back to our hotel. It was chaos – people were running around and there were police and ambulances everywhere.
There are dozens of ambulances at the major crossing where the explosion happened. On the road there are mangled scooters and shards of glass.
The area is a central shopping district and the raised metro station nearby has been closed.
4.20pm BST
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