Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes was pushing his young grandson in a stroller when he made a split-second decision that might have saved their lives.
Barnes and his family were on their way to dinner in Bangkok when he decided it’d be too hard to negotiate the pram along the bumpy, busy road that runs beside the Thai capital’s popular Erawan Shrine.
Instead he led his family to an overhead walkway.
As they jostled for space with other pedestrians, high above the road way, a bomb exploded outside the shrine with terrifying force, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 120 others.
So far there’ve been no reports of Australians injured or killed, but the Department of Foreign Affairs is consulting with Thai officials.
Barnes is still wrestling with the shock of what might have happened to his Thai-Australian wife Jane, daughter Elly-May, son-in-law Liam Conboy and grandson Dylan if he hadn’t decided to change course.
“I had the pram with the grandson … walking past the shrine would have been very difficult because it’s a bumpy road. So I said to the kids ‘follow me, I’ll take you this other way’,” he told AAP from his Bangkok hotel.
“We were literally walking between two buildings on the walkway when the bomb went off. It was just frightening.
“I knew it was a bomb straight away. All the windows sort of went whoosh and bent from the blast.”
A selfie taken by Jimmy Barnes moments after the blast. AAP image
Australian John Murray and his girlfriend Leify Porter were also on an overhead walkway and had paused to peer from above into the shrine.
“We were just looking at the Thai people praying and then suddenly a massive explosion just detonated and the flames went flying through the sky,” Mr Murray told Sky News.
“We literally got blasted back from the impact. We got struck by shrapnel and debris.”
They’ve both suffered hearing problems since the blast and are still coming to terms with the horror they witnessed.
“It was very surreal to go down after and to see the bodies of the people, to see people injured. I actually tried to walk over to help people but Leify pulled me back and said ‘what are you doing, there could be another bomb’.”
Melbourne man Hussain Masri was on his way to an ATM when the bomb went off and says he might also have been caught up in the blast if he’d not changed route to avoid traffic.
“All you could see was fire burning. People screaming. After the blast it was so scary, especially seeing bodies and limbs and motorbikes on fire and the smell – the smell of burning …”
The Australian government has not upgraded advice for travellers in Thailand since the blast, but continues to urge a high degree of caution.
The Smart Traveller website says Australians should stay away from the blast site amid unconfirmed media reports that a second bomb may have been defused.
– AAP
