At least 13 people died in Thailand in a nightclub fire near the tourist city of Pattaya (east) on the night of Thursday to Friday, one of the deadliest disasters since 2009. A local relief report reported 13 dead – four women and nine men – and 41 injured, 14 seriously. The deceased victims are between 17 and 49 years old.
“There are no foreigners” among those killed, a police officer from Phlu Ta Luang sub-district told AFP.
“It happened so fast”
The fire broke out around 1 am (6 pm GMT) on Mountain B in the Sattahip district, not far from the Pattaya seaside resort, some 180 kilometers from the capital Bangkok. The fire was contained around 4 am, a member of the Sawang Rojanathammasathan Foundation rescue team told AFP.
The presence of acoustic foam in the walls, supposedly to isolate the building from outside noise, favored the spread of the fire and complicated the firefighters’ task, rescuers said in a press release.
A video they shared shows the building on fire, from which several people are trying to escape, with their clothes on fire, amid thick black smoke. Other images released by Thai media show the charred interior of the nightclub, where tables and chairs lie on the floor.
Several hours after the fire, engineers inspected the one-story building, fearing the roof might collapse.
One of the deceased victims is the lead singer of a band that was performing that night. A musician friend of his son who managed to escape “told me that the fire started near where he was singing. He went through the moss so fast,” his mother, Premjai Sae-Oung, told the media.
“We are going to have to reinforce the standards”
“Last night I called on relevant agencies to investigate and speed up compensation and support for victims,” Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said. “We are going to have to reinforce the standards for the merchants and the authorities, because it is an image (the one of the fire, editor’s note) that spreads throughout the world,” he assured.
Home Minister Anupong Paochinda told reporters that Mountain B was operating as an “unlicensed” entertainment venue. Basic safety rules are frequently ignored in Thailand, a popular destination for Western and Asian visitors, which recently eased entry requirements to revive tourism, which has stalled during the coronavirus pandemic.
On January 1, 2009, a fire at a Bangkok nightclub, the Santika, killed 67 people, including three Singaporeans, one Japanese, and one Burmese. Many western tourists had been injured. The fire started due to fireworks that went off when the rock band “Burn” was playing. The owner of the establishment had been sentenced for negligence to three years in prison, as well as the owner of the company that had installed the lights.
In 2012, four people died in a fire at a nightclub in the tourist town of Phukhet (south), caused by an electrical problem.
Source: BFM TV
