A devastating fire at a Bangkok pub has claimed the lives of 30 people, with authorities investigating allegations of negligence as the primary theory behind the blaze. The fire broke out in the early hours of Monday at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao pub, located in the city’s north, and is considered the deadliest in Bangkok in 17 years. An initial assessment by disaster officials found that an electrical short circuit in an air conditioner located in the ceiling caused the fire.
The local district office reported that three more people died on Tuesday, bringing the total death toll to 30. Authorities have confirmed the identities of 27 victims, with three yet to be identified. Most are believed to be Thai nationals.
National police chief Kittiratt Phanphet stated that police have established negligence as the primary theory guiding their investigation. The pub has offered its deepest apologies for the tragic incident and extended its condolences to the families of the deceased. The pub also pledged its full support to the investigation and transparent fact-finding process.
Investigations have revealed that most of the victims were found trapped in windowless bathrooms near one of the rear exits. Access to another exit near the kitchen might have been narrowed by shelving units and lockers. There were also signs that at least some of the exit doors might have been locked, with one door bolted and marked as ‘staff only’.
Investigators are also assessing the ceiling above a performance stage, examining whether flammable materials were used in decorative elements and how electrical wiring was installed across the ceiling. 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 local outlet Khaosod 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?’ Many who survived unscathed only did so by luck, like Kaewudon Pongpanee, 24, a pub employee who was 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. Poungpany’s younger brother Pongpaset Pongpanee, also a worker at the pub, was inside at the time. Both of the brothers were migrant workers from neighbouring Laos.
Poungpany 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.
