The Burmese embassy in Bangkok issued a statement on Tuesday, warning its citizens to avoid ten potential danger zones in the Thai capital, in the wake of a deadly bomb blast that killed at least 20 people and left scores injured at the popular Erawan Shrine in the city centre.

In the statement, the embassy warned all Burmese nationals “to take serious caution” and avoid going to ten specific areas in Bangkok, which it said are “likely to be targeted and have been declared dangerous areas”.

The areas listed are: Ratchaprasong Intersection; Pathuwan Intersection; Silom Intersection; Khao San Intersection; Narathiwat Intersection; Victory Monument; Tuek Chai Intersection; Benjasiri Park; Soi Thong Lor; and Sukhumvit Road.

The first on the list, Ratchaprasong Intersection, is close to where last night’s explosive device went off, at a spot next to a popular Hindu shrine where many devotees gather to pray and tourists take photographs.

Of the 20 declared dead from the blast, five were Thais, eight were foreigners, and seven bodies are yet to be identified.

No Burmese were reported to have been killed or injured.

An estimated 2- 3 million Burmese live or work in Thailand, the majority being paid below the minimum wage in industries such as construction, agriculture and factory work.

Meanwhile, a second bomb has exploded in central Bangkok – at Sathorn Pier, some five kilometres from the site of last night’s fatal blast.

[related]

According to the Bangkok Post, witnesses reported that an explosive device “was hurled at approximately 1.20pm from the Sathorn Bridge near a parking lot for pickup truck taxis, bounced into the water and exploded there.”

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.

Divers have reportedly gone into the Chao Phraya River to try to recover fragments of the explosive device.