Jimmy Barnes Narrowly Avoids Bangkok Bombing Overnight

It seems like last night Jimmy Barnes and his family should thank their lucky stars, as they avoided Monday evening's bomb blast in Bangkok by mere minutes.

As Sydney Morning Herald's Alan Parkhouse writes, he was with the Aussie rocker and his family (his wife Jane, daughter Elly-May, her husband Liam and their son, Dylan) as they went from their hotel to a dinner together at the Intercontinental Hotel.

Parkhouse writes that the group debated "whether to walk on the footpath past the popular religious shrine on the corner, which was always crowded with worshippers and tourists, and then across the road," or "to take the overhead bridge that linked their hotel to Bangkok's Skytrain. There was another overhead walkway from the Skytrain through a shopping centre and into the Intercontinental Hotel."

He writes, "We opted for the overhead route – a decision that probably saved our lives."

We have been able to cross back to our hotel. Bombs diffused. Bodies still covered on road, terrible, so sad #bangkok pic.twitter.com/TQm3xqq8w2

— Jane Barnes (@jane13barnes) August 17, 2015

As they reportedly walked over the overhead walkway, "a very loud explosion and the glass lining the closed-in walkway shook and almost buckled from the shockwave of the blast."

"We had just walked right above the spot where the bomb had gone off and were about 50 metres away when the blast shook the walkway and the glass almost shattered. It was a really loud explosion and Jimmy, Jane and I knew it wasn't thunder, a car backfiring or fireworks."

Parkhouse reports on the crowds they saw in the area and the various reports going around in the area. Wrapping up, Parkhouse says, "It was a night to remember, and we all thanked our lucky stars that we took the overhead route and hadn't walked across the road."

The bomb is reported to have been a pipe bomb, according to Thailand's National Police Chief, having killed at least 18 people and injuring more than 117 others, as told by a Thai hospital.