Residents, living in 6.5 km radius from the explosion, look at black smog from the blast of the Ming Dih Chemical factory, a manufacturer of Expandable Polystyrene (EPS).

Ming Dih Chemical has its parent company in Taiwan. It set up the factory in Thailand in 1998 and has the capacity to produce up to 30,000 tonnes of EPS per year. The factory serves as a distribution hub for products that are sold in domestic markets and exported to neighbouring countries.