A fire in a bar on the outskirts of Bangkok killed at least 27 people and injured dozens on Sunday evening, according to authorities and witnesses, the worst disaster of its type in Thailand in recent decades.
• Also read: At least 27 dead in Thailand bar fire
An investigation has been opened. Forensics began working Monday in the fire-ravaged room, which had its windows blown out, as investigators work to determine the cause of the fire.
AFP
More than 70 people were injured, including 41 hospitalized, with 25 in intensive care, according to the Erawan emergency center.
A video authenticated by AFP showed screaming people, some with clothes on fire, fleeing the establishment from which flames were bursting.
AFP
“The fire spread very quickly, reaching the ceiling. The smoke was probably the main cause of the deaths,” city governor Chadchart Sittipunt told the press.
The government has promised financial support to the families of the victims.
But for Kanlayawat Banruangthong, 34, “no amount of money” can ease the pain of losing his cousin, Sittipong Chaiyo, 23.
AFP
At the Bangkok hospital, families rush in the hope of finding their loved ones or to identify their bodies.
An elderly woman, who calls herself Nid, has lost her daughter and son-in-law. She now has to take care of her grandchildren, aged four and five.
AFP
“Now I have none of them left, only my two grandchildren who lost their parents,” she says, with tears in her eyes.
“Chaos”
A number of victims were found near the emergency exit, leading authorities to believe it may have been blocked.
AFP journalists saw blackened stools inside the bar and mismatched shoes on the floor at the rear of the building.
A Laotian tourist, Kan Kutirat, told AFP that he was drinking at the bar on Sunday around 10 p.m. local time, when he noticed smoke rising near the stage.
AFP
“I heard loud screams from many people inside, it was chaos,” he added.
“I feel depressed. I saw a lot of deaths and I don’t know what happened to the people I helped,” Surin Jaiharn, a 45-year-old motorcycle taxi driver, also testified.
He said he rescued five people, using cloth to put out the flames burning them.
“I grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed it at the door… but I couldn’t go any further. I heard people screaming,” recalls Kaew-udon Poungppany, 24. He lost his little brother Phonepaseut Poungppany, 21 years old.
AFP
« Explosion »
The musicians present spoke of “smoke escaping from a circuit breaker near the stage, then a power cut and an explosion”, according to Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who visited the scene.
“Everyone was running around, pushing each other,” recalls Athipat “Ice” Wijarn, whose band was performing on stage when the fire broke out.
The group’s keyboardist, Kwang, and singer, Breeze, both lost their lives.
“Most of the victims ran towards the back, towards a toilet with no exit. It was perhaps due to panic because there was fire and smoke,” said Mr. Anutin. “Smoke quickly invaded the premises.”
Initial findings suggest there were “blind spots” with no visible escape routes, the prime minister also told reporters later at Bangkok City Hall.
He added that “there would be no leniency if any laws were broken.”
According to Suriyachai Rawiwan, head of Bangkok’s disaster prevention department, authorities arrived at the site five minutes after the fire was reported. However, it “had already spread throughout the area, making it difficult for us to access.”
“When we went in to search, we found tables and seats blocking the way everywhere, and the heat was intense,” the official added to AFP.
Thailand’s safety and health regulations, particularly lax in bars and nightclubs, have been a long-standing concern.
In 2022, 25 people died in a nightclub fire in the eastern province of Chonburi.
In 2009, another club caught fire in Bangkok on New Year’s Eve, killing 67 people and injuring more than 200.
