Bangkok bar fire: death toll reaches 30 as police say negligence is ‘primary theory’

Bar owner offers ‘deepest apologies’ as police investigate whether exits were either blocked or hard to access

The Bangkok pub that became the scene of the city’s deadliest blaze in 17 years has said it will cooperate with an investigation into alleged negligence, as the death toll rose to 30.

The local district office said on Tuesday that three more people had died after the devastating fire that broke out in the early hours of Monday. An initial assessment by disaster officials found an electrical short ‌circuit in an air conditioner located in the ‌ceiling had caused the fire.

Authorities have confirmed the identities of 27 victims, with three yet to be identified. Most are believed to be Thai nationals. Of the injured, 24 are in a critical condition, 15 have moderate injuries, and 36 sustained minor injuries and have returned home.

The national police chief, Kitrat Phanphet, told reporters on Monday: “At this time, police have established negligence as the primary theory guiding their investigation.”

In a statement released on Monday evening on social media, the Rong Beer Na Ladprao pub offered its “deepest apologies for this tragic incident” and extended its condolences to the families of the deceased.

The pub, located in the city’s north, also pledged its full support to the investigation and “transparent fact-finding process”, as officials have flagged inquiries into whether exits were accessible.

Most of the victims were found trapped in windowless bathrooms near one of the rear exits, Kitrat said. That exit was not used, and people may have been blocked from reaching it by a table set up to sell candy, or because it was too dark to find the way out, he said.

Access to another exit near the kitchen might also have been narrowed by shelving units and lockers, according to the police chief who visited the scene on Monday. There were signs that at least some of the exit doors might have been locked, he added.

In a video shared by the office of the prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, during an inspection of the scene, the leader was told a door that was once an exit was bolted, with the proprietor afraid that customers would slip out without paying their bills.

The door had a sign that said “staff only” and could open to the outside, but an official told Anutin customers would not have been aware. “If they had run this ⁠way, it would have been fine,” Anutin responded.

Investigators were also assessing the ceiling above a performance stage, Kitrat said. Police will examine whether flammable materials were used in decorative elements and how electrical wiring was installed across the ceiling.

Video posted on social media showed people fleeing as flames shot out of the single-storey building and black smoke billowed into the sky. Those who managed to escape through the front doors ran through the flames, sustaining life-altering injuries.

The boyfriend of a 31-year-old woman who ran out of the building while on fire told the local outlet Khaosod that bystanders helped her extinguish the flames. When they were reunited, he said she told him: “I can’t take it any more. I’m in so much pain. Am I still beautiful?”

The injured have been taken to 17 different hospitals across the city in order to coordinate the necessary specialised care and ICU treatment required for victims suffering from burn injuries and smoke inhalation.

At Rajavithi hospital, a spokesperson said most of the 11 patients had sustained burn injuries, with four men and two women in a critical condition requiring close medical supervision.

Many who survived unscathed only did so by luck, such as Kaewudon Pongpanee, 24, a pub employee who had been using a bathroom outside when the fire began. He saw people running away from the flames and began shouting for his brother but “the heat was unbearable, I couldn’t get back in”, he said.

His younger brother Pongpaset Pongpanee, also a worker at the pub, was inside at the time.

The brothers were migrant workers from neighbouring Laos. Pongpanee came to the police hospital morgue on Monday in order to identify the body of his brother.

“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,” he said.

Outside the cordoned-off pub on Tuesday, the acrid smell of smoke had diminished, replaced by the scent of white chrysanthemums and garlands of marigolds, some bearing notes to the deceased. Spiritual offerings of cake, rice and soda had also been placed at the site.

Those who knew the victims came throughout the day, as did strangers paying their respects, such as Ratchada Tangprasert, who said a silent prayer before leaving a floral garland.

Tangprasert, who lives around the corner from the pub, said she felt heartsick imagining the last moments of the victims. “I don’t know anyone but I feel so sad.”

She said she hoped it would be a lesson for the Thai government and the country as a whole about improving safety.

Another woman came with her mother and brothers to remember her relative Saengdao Senaphak, who had died. She said they placed offerings “to call the spirits of the deceased back home”.

With Associated Press and Reuters