A fire ripped through market tents when a fuel tank exploded inside a food stall yesterday.

The blaze began when restaurant worker Pa Toon, 37, was adjusting the burner on a fuel cylinder while frying fish at his stall at the Star Night Bazaar Market in Rayong province, Thailand.

As he fiddled with the attachment, it suddenly flew off and struck the frying pan. A large fireball then burst from the tank and ignited the canvas roof before rapidly spreading to nearby tents.

Seeing the blaze grow rapidly, Pa Toon ran for safety, unable to extinguish the flames on his own.

Footage shows smoke rising from the cluster of tents while locals fled from the bazaar area.

Four fire trucks were dispatched and brought the fire under control in 15 minutes. Officers entered the market and found eight burnt gas cylinders which they shut off for safety.

Eight stalls were damaged, but there were no reports of injuries or deaths.

Vendor Suthep Charoenrungruengchai, 56, said: 'I was opening my stall when I heard a loud explosion. When I turned around, I saw large flames erupting from the gas cylinder, so I screamed for everyone to run away before calling the fire department.'

Rayong police said they were investigating the cause of the fire and assessing the property lost.