Bangkok (AsiaNews) – Investigations are continuing in Bangkok to establish the causes and determine who may be held responsible for the fire that, shortly before midnight on Sunday, devastated the Roong Bier Na Lat Phrao pub, a popular haunt in the Chatuchak entertainment and shopping district.
This morning, the Chatuchak District Office updated the death toll to 30, with a further 75 people injured or suffering from smoke inhalation, 24 of whom are in critical condition. Today also saw families begin collecting the bodies from the Police General Hospital to arrange private funerals.
The police are continuing to interview witnesses and individuals involved in various ways with the tragedy; 34 have been interviewed so far.
There are many questions surrounding the causes of a fire that spread extremely rapidly, as well as regarding the emergency facilities – including escape routes – which, according to initial findings, may have been blocked or inadequate to allow those inside to evacuate quickly.
Whilst many managed to escape outside, even with their clothes on fire, many of the victims were found in windowless toilets where they had sought shelter a short distance from one of the exits, which may have been blocked.
It took the fire brigade half an hour to extinguish the blaze, which completely gutted the venue – similar to other neighbouring venues, which are very crowded at weekends thanks in part to the food, alcohol, live music and live sports broadcasts on offer.
As for the causes of one of the most serious incidents of this kind to have occurred in the country, survivors’ accounts suggest a probable short circuit in an electrical control unit, which was followed by an explosion, a horizontal burst of flame and thick smoke that engulfed the single-storey building whilst a live music performance was taking place.
According to the authorities, the fire in the venue – which had undergone a safety inspection in April – may have been triggered by a short circuit in a ceiling-mounted air-conditioning unit.
The disaster – which clearly bears similarities to the New Year’s Eve tragedy at the Le Constellation nightclub in Crans-Montana – once again raises the issue of safety in public venues in Thailand, despite regulations having been updated in the past following similar fatal incidents, yet these are often ignored or only partially enforced.
The Governor of Bangkok, Chadchart Sittipunt, today ordered the city administration to carry out a comprehensive inspection of venues to assess the risks and reiterated the metropolitan administration’s commitment to enforcing safety regulations.
Thailand, however, has already been the scene of devastating incidents resulting in dozens of casualties. The most recent high-profile incident was a nightclub fire on 5 August 2022 in the eastern province of Chonburi, which claimed at least 13 lives.
An earlier incident, but one that remains even more etched in the memory of Thais, is the Santika Club disaster in the capital: on New Year’s Eve 2009, fire and smoke caused the deaths of 66 people and left 200 injured, mostly young people taking part in the celebrations. This was not only a tragic event – it was the worst disaster of its kind in Thailand – but it also brought to light the corruption and safety failings that lay at the root of the tragedy.
