Bangkok Police Point To Pyrotechnics As Cause Of Deadly Blaze

A nightclub fire in Bangkok that started just after midnight has claimed the lives of 59 people and injured almost 200. The large club is known as Santika Pub and is located in an upscale area of the city known as Thonglor where there are dozens of restaurants, nightclubs and trendy shops.

People died from smoke inhalation, severe burns and injuries from trampling after the fire was caused by some sort of pyrotechnics that were set off on a stage in the upper level of the club ignited highly flammable soundproofing materials on the roof and walls of the room.

According to Pol Lt Col Prawit Kantwol, one of the first officers on the scene, "It appears that the fire started from the area of the stage where a band was playing. There were some pyrotechnics and it appears that they started the blaze," he said. "Most of the victims died from suffocation but some were also killed in a stampede when people were trying to get out."

Most of the dead were Thai, but foreigners have been identified from Australia, the Netherlands, Nepal and Japan. It was estimated that there were upwards of 1,000 people in the three-level club (two upper floors and a basement) at the time. Most of the people who died were in the basement level of the club which had only one exit, a narrow stairway. According to an employee at the club there are four exits on the ground floor but the fleeing people seemed not to have known about any exits other than the main entrance.