A brief fire broke out near BTS’s Onnut station on Sukhumvit 81 forcing the sky train service to the area to be halted temporarily this morning.
The fire started at about 07.34am at a coffee shop located on Sukhumvit 81 and is below the Onnut station.
Flames from the gutted shop raged quickly above and black smokes covered the entire walkway and platform of the station, forcing the Bangkok Mass Transit System or BTS to evacuate passengers waiting for trains down to the pavement and shut down the Onnut station for safety reason.
All sky trains were also ordered to bypass the Onnut station for safety reasons.
Meanwhile firemen arriving at the scene also shut all outgoing traffic on Sukhumvit road to facilitate work to put out the fire, but remained only one lane to ease traffic jams.
However inbound traffic was not affected but traffic flowed slowly as motorists drove slowly to watch the fire.
It was half an hour before the fire was put out.
However Onnut station remained closed until after 9.00 am when security officials needed time to clear smokes from the station.
Train service during the fire was not affected but trains were told to bypass the Onnut station until all smokes covering the station was cleared as officials feared passengers could suffocate.
It was until after shortly after 9 am that the station was opened and train stopped as usual.
BTS said on its Twitter that passengers who bought the tickets to Onnut station or bought tickets at the station would not be refunded, but they still could use the tickets for travel within 14 days.
Forensic police arrived at the fire scene late in the morning to examine the cause of the fire.
Nobody was hurt, they said.
