Motorists have been warned not to use their mobile phones while filling up at petrol stations after a video of a motorbike catching fire went viral.
The video, posted on popular Facebook page YouLike, shows the motorbike catching fire after the driver received a phone call on his phone. The incident took place on Monday afternoon at a petrol station in Chiang Mai, Thai PBS reported.
The driver had left his phone underneath his seat as it was connected to a power bank and charging, as a petrol station employee filled up the bike’s fuel tanks, Thai PBS reported.
Seconds later the motorbike is seen bursting into flames.
Luckily another quick-thinking employee then springs into action, hosing down the bike with a fire extinguisher.
Following the incident, drector-general of the Energy Policy and Planning Office Tawarat Sutabutra, who is also the spokesman for the Ministry of Energy, warned motorists to switch off their mobile phones when filling up with fuel or automotive gases.
They should also turn off any device that could trigger a spark which would ignite the flammable fumes, he said.
The Ministry of Energy has made it mandatory for all petrol stations in the country to post signs asking all motorists to switch off their engines and under no circumstances smoke or use their mobile devices while filling up with fuel, Tawarat added.
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