BANGKOK — A huge fire tore through a music bar in Bangkok overnight, killing at least 27 people and leaving 25 hospitalized in critical condition on Monday as investigations began into the Thai capital’s deadliest blaze in 17 years.
Bangkok city officials said the fire at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar in a northern part of the Thai capital broke out shortly before midnight Sunday, and it took about half an hour for firefighters to bring it under control.
The bar, which in Thai calls itself a brewery or beer hall, featured live music and claimed to accommodate as many as 600 customers. It was not clear how many were there on Sunday night.
According to Bangkok’s Erawan emergency services center, the number of injured was 73, with 25 in critical condition. The Bangkok city government Monday evening said there were 28 dead, one more than Erawan’s tally.
Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said most of the deaths were caused by smoke inhalation.
The site had been cordoned off by daybreak Monday as dozens of Thai forensic officers combed for clues about what caused the fire. Associated Press journalists could see the bar’s street-facing windows had been blown out and debris littered the sidewalk, including charred television sets, speakers and an electric guitar.
The scale of the devastation inside was visible through the shattered windows, with burned-out tables still holding empty beer bottles.
Trapped in bathrooms without windows
Thai national police chief Kittharath Punpetch said most of the dead were found trapped in windowless bathrooms near one of the rear exits of the bar, where they may have sheltered to escape the flames in the hall.
He said the exit had not been used, and people may have been obstructed from reaching it by a table set up in the hall to sell candy, or because it was too dark to find it.
Access to another exit near the kitchen might also have been narrowed by shelving units and lockers, said Kittharath, who visited the scene Monday morning. There were signs that at least some of the exit doors might have been locked, he added.
Investigators are focusing on the ceiling above the performance stage, where they found materials that may have been used as decorative elements, he said. Police will examine whether flammable materials were used in the interior and how electrical wiring was installed across the ceiling.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters that a musician who was performing at the bar told him that he saw smoke coming out of a circuit breaker near the stage before the power went out, then an explosion was heard and thick smoke quickly filled the place.
Video posted on social media had shown people fleeing as flames shot out the single-story building and black smoke billowed into the sky.
Buddhist monks came to pray for the dead
Several Buddhist monks visited the site Monday morning to pray for the victims, while nurses handed out masks to people nearby to help protect them from smoke and lingering fumes from the burned-out building.
A registration spot was set up to gather information from relatives coming to look for their loved ones.
Singer Sukanya Wongwongwai said she was performing nearby when she heard news of the fire and rushed to the scene because several of her bandmates were performing at the bar. She said one of them died, three were hospitalized and one hadn’t been located. Her band later announced on Facebook that the missing member was also found hospitalized.
“From what I heard from people who were inside, when the fire started everything went dark. The power was out and there was smoke everywhere, so they couldn’t locate other people,” she said.
A statement from the bar posted on Facebook expressed apologies and condolences and said it was fully cooperating with investigators. It said the bar’s owner sustained serious injuries in the fire and was in a hospital intensive care unit.
Mourning family members identify the dead
Distressed family members gathered at Bangkok’s Institute of Forensic Medicine in the afternoon to identify the bodies of the fire’s victims .
Through tears, a woman who asked to be identified only by her nickname, Nid, said she had just identified the bodies of her daughter and son-in-law.
She described her son-in-law as “a very good person, he worked very hard to earn money,” and said her daughter had just graduated.
“She recently started working as a computer teacher. And now they’re dead,” she said.
Keo Oudone Poungpany, 24, was at the institute to identify his younger brother’s body. The two, migrant workers from neighboring Laos, were bar employees on duty when the fire broke out.
Poungpany said he was using a restroom outside the bar when the fire broke out.
“I really don’t know what happened,” he said, recounting that while walking back toward the bar, he encountered dozens of people running away from the flames and heard terrifyingly loud noises.
From the outside of the bar, he began shouting for his brother. “The heat was unbearable, I couldn’t get back in,” he said.
“For now, I want to bring my younger brother’s body back home,” said Poungpany. “I want to bring him home to my parents. My parents are waiting for their kids to come back together, but now one is gone.”
In 2022, 14 people were killed by a fire at a music bar in the eastern part of the country. And more than a decade before that, 67 people were killed and more than 200 injured in a fire during a Jan. 1, 2009, New Year’s Eve celebration at the Santika nightclub in Thailand’s capital. That blaze was apparently sparked by an indoor fireworks display.
Delgado and Saksornchai write for the Associated Press. AP writer Sahatthaya Kraikhunthot contributed to this report.
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