A massive fire tore through a pub in Bangkok in the early hours of Monday, killing at least 27 people and leaving dozens of others injured, Thai officials have confirmed. The blaze swept through the venue within a matter of minutes, trapping scores of people inside before firefighters managed to bring it under control.
According to reports, the fire erupted shortly after midnight at the Na Ladprao pub in the northern part of the Thai capital, prompting a large-scale emergency response. The Bangkok Governor later stated that 22 of the 63 people hospitalised following the incident remain in a critical condition. Flames streaming from the main door of the building were documented in videos uploaded to the internet as frightened attendees rushed out of the premises, while smoke quickly filled the place, making it hard to see anything.
The alarm was reported to rescue teams late at night, and the first responders got to work. The Prime Minister of Thailand, Anutin Charnvirakul, visited the scene in the early morning and announced the number of fatalities, stating that the fire reportedly originated from the vicinity of the stage, citing testimonies of musicians, who saw smoke coming out of a circuit breaker before the lights went off. As per the reports of the band members, there had been an explosion following the blackout, and then the flames spread throughout the place.
Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said that the fire rapidly spread to the decorative items on the ceiling, creating heavy smoke that engulfed the whole pub in a matter of minutes. The Prime Minister further stated that a lot of people had died near the restrooms because it appeared that they went there in order to take refuge from the fire. In addition, he said that the major cause of death was the inhaling of the smoke because the people could not find the way out in the dark. It took firefighters about 30 minutes to bring the fire under control. Pictures from the aftermath depicted the total destruction of the pub’s interior.
In recent times, the latest tragedy is considered to be one of the deadliest among other entertainment place fires that have occurred in Thailand. The tragic death toll in Thailand has happened just recently in 2022 when 14 people lost their lives at a music pub. The country also witnessed one of its worst nightclub disasters on New Year's Day in 2009, when a blaze at Bangkok's Santika nightclub killed 66 people and injured more than 200 others, an incident later attributed to an indoor fireworks display. Authorities have launched a full investigation to determine the exact cause of Monday's disaster.
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