Two young men from Kent have described their terror after they were just a road away from the deadly explosion in Bangkok.

The blast yesterday, which Thailand’s Prime Minister has called "the worst ever attack" on the country, killed at least 20 people, including eight tourists.

Thomas Maughan and Jared Smith, both 22 and from Faversham, were staying in the Lub’d Hostel – in the same street where the bomb ripped through a busy junction.

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The attack was targeting the sacred Erawan Shrine, a popular attraction for tourists which Jared and Thomas had travelled past in tuk-tuks and taxis a number of times on the way back to their hostel.

At the time of the explosion, they were in a taxi just one street away from the intersection where the carnage unfolded.

Just five days into their 15-month trip of a lifetime, visiting the rest of South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, the former Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School pupils say they feel "lucky" to have escaped injury or even worse.

Video: Scenes from Bangkok after the bombing

Thomas said: “Traffic was really heavy due to it being close to rush hour and so central and the streets seemed packed with people.

“I thought I heard the explosion but there’s a lot of noise in Bangkok normally so I didn’t really think much of it.

“Then there was an unusual amount of sirens coming past us on the opposite side of the road.

"We checked the news and saw the headlines. We had shivers down our spines upon realising how close we were. So many sirens from ambulances continued to fill the streets heading from where we'd come from." - Thomas Maughan

“Further up the street, Jared’s mum rang him in tears asking if we were okay. She must have thought the worst. She told us the news but we didn’t want to believe it at first.

“When we got to our destination, we checked the news and saw the headlines. We had shivers down our spines upon realising how close we were.

“So many sirens from ambulances continued to fill the streets heading from where we'd come from.”

Soon after, they witnessed an entire roundabout being temporarily closed off by police and they believe it was a security measure to get a group of people to safety (see the video).

Thai police have now released an image of the suspect who they believe could have something to do with the attack.

Nobody has claimed responsibility but the government has said it was clearly an assault on tourists – the country’s vital line of trade.

Jared added: “There seemed to be many Thai people staring at their phones with very serious looks upon their faces clearly having just read what had happened.

“We spoke to one Thai guy at the bus stop who said it was very rare for terrorist attacks.

“It’s very sad, especially as we've found Bangkok to be such a happy city with Thai people always willing to go out of their way to help us.

“I'm angry that someone can kill so many innocent people so carelessly seemingly without any target.”

Thomas said: “We found out another bomb had been defused and another was being searched for on the trains.

“This made us feel less safe so we made sure we got a place to stay elsewhere, rather than returning to the centre.

“We're currently heading out the city and glad to be away from any potential unrest or further attacks.”