Thailand: 14 dead in nightclub fire

UPDATE DAY

BANGKOK | At least 14 people died in Thailand in the fire of a nightclub near the tourist city of Pattaya (east), on the night of Thursday to Friday, one of the deadliest disasters since 2009 which questions respect safety rules. 

A new report from the local emergency services reported in the afternoon a 14th death, after the 13 announced earlier – four women and ten men. They were between 17 and 49 years old, all Thai.

About 40 injured were also recorded, including more than a dozen seriously affected.

The fire broke out around 1 a.m. local time (6 p.m. GMT), at Mountain B, in the Sattahip district, not far from the seaside resort of Pattaya, about 180 kilometers from the capital Bangkok.

L The fire was contained three hours later, a member of the Sawang Rojanathammasathan Foundation rescue team told AFP.

The presence on the walls of acoustic foam, supposed to isolate the building from outside noise, favored the spread of the fire and complicated the task of the firefighters, the rescuers said in a press release.

A video that they shared shows the building in flames, from which several people try to escape, clothes on fire, in the middle of thick black smoke.

Other images released by Thai media show the interior charred from the nightclub, where tables and chairs lie on the ground.

Several hours after the fire, the one-story building was inspected by engineers, fearing that the roof would collapse.< /p>

'Get out, get out'

“I felt like there was a short circuit behind the DJ, and within a minute there's had a power cut,” said Chalit Chotisupakarn, who managed to escape.

“I ran towards the entrance. I couldn't see anything, everything was dark. Everyone was shouting “Get out, get out”. I only insisted and insisted. People had caught fire,” he explained, his arm in a sling.

One of the deceased victims is the singer of a band that was playing a concert that evening.

A musician friend of his son, who survived, “told me that the fire started near where he sang. It happened so fast because of the foam,” his mother, Premjai Sae-Oung, told the media.

“I asked the relevant agencies last night to investigate and 'accelerate compensation and support for victims,' responded Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha.

He pleaded for a tightening of safety standards, highlighting the negative image for the country's tourist attractiveness sent abroad by the fire.

“Without authorization” < /strong>