A liquid-petroleum-gas powered Volvo sedan exploded and was destroyed in a blaze yesterday morning.

It took two fire vehicles using chemicals to put out the blaze. Flames reached two metres.

The accident took place in front of Ruam Chok Market.

Gas pipes keep breaking

"I don't know how the fire started," sedan owner Somchai Kraisudrang says. "The police will investigate".

Somchai bought his second-hand Volvo from the original owner, who had the LPG tank installed at a garage in Chiang Mai.

"The vehicle can run on either petrol or LPG," he explains.

Somchai found the LPG pipes broke a lot. But mechanics told him it wasn't dangerous. "I was taught to switch to petrol when such things happened," he says.

Yesterday, Somchai followed these instructions but then heard an explosion at the front of the car as he was driving along the Chiang Mai-to-Phrao road.

"I turned to petrol but got only 100 metres when it exploded again," Somchai says. "This time, I saw fire, too".

He stopped and ran for his life.

Nearby vendors fled the scene. They later called police and fire

fighters.