(Photo: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP)
At least 27 people died on Sunday evening when a large fire broke out in a bar in Bangkok, Thailand.
A total of 63 people were admitted to hospital with injuries after the fire, 22 of whom were in a critical condition.
“The fire spread very quickly and reached the ceiling. Smoke was probably the main cause of the deaths,” Chadchart Sittipunt, the governor of Bangkok, told reporters outside the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao bar and restaurant on Sunday night.
The exact cause of the fire is still unknown at this stage.
An investigation has been launched.
According to the governor, a number of the victims were found near an emergency exit. Authorities believe there may have been obstructions blocking the emergency exit.
“We don’t know how many people were inside, but it was probably a lot,” Chadchart said.
The bar on the outskirts of the Thai capital is particularly known for upbeat music and has a stage, two bars and a kitchen as well as four emergency exits. According to a post on the bar’s Facebook page, the bar has room for more than 300 people.
(Photo: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP)
The Thai national police said in a post on social media at around 02:00 on Monday that the fire had been brought under control.
Anutin Charnvirakul, the Thai prime minister, has since visited the scene.
According to Anutin, musicians on the scene described “smoke from a circuit breaker near the stage, followed by a power cut and an explosion”.
“Most of the victims ran to the back, to toilets without an exit. It could have been due to panic, because there was fire and smoke,” Anutin told reporters.
Suriyachai Rawiwan, the head of Bangkok’s disaster prevention department, says the authorities arrived five minutes after the incident was reported, but by then “the fire had already spread throughout the building, which made it difficult for us to get in”.
(Photo: Chanakarn Laosarakham/AFP)
“When we went in to investigate, tables and seats were blocking the road everywhere and the heat was intense,” Suriyachai told AFP.
Most of the victims’ bodies were found in a bathroom at the back of the building.
Thailand’s lax approach to health and safety regulations – particularly in bars and nightclubs – has long been a source of concern.
A total of 25 people died in 2022 when a large fire broke out in the Mountain B nightclub in Thailand’s eastern Chonburi province.
In 2009, a large fire during a New Year’s Eve party in Bangkok’s Santika club claimed the lives of 67 people. More than 200 were injured at the time.