Bangkok nightclub blaze claims 30 lives as Thai authorities review safety failures

Thirty people have now died after a blaze tore through a music venue in Bangkok, while city leaders vow tougher checks and investigators weigh whether negligence and safety breaches played a part.

Thai authorities reported on Tuesday that 24 patients were still critically ill in hospital. Many others who received treatment have since gone home.

Crews needed about 30 minutes to extinguish the flames late Sunday at Rong Beer Na Ladprao, a venue in the capital’s Chatuchak district. Detectives looking into how the fire started are asking whether operators met required safety standards.

“We’ve set up a committee to investigate the truth, what should be improved and what rules should be changed,” Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said at a Tuesday news briefing. “We will do more random checks.”

Officials have pointed to a possible short circuit in a ceiling-mounted air conditioner as a spark for the blaze. The premises had been inspected for safety in April.

Royal Thai Police chief Kittharath Punpetch said the single-level bar had four ways out, but officers are checking whether the two rear exits were obstructed or could not be used. Near the washrooms — where most of those who died were located — a table had been placed across one exit. Another escape route by the kitchen had a broken exit sign and a sliding door without a handle, he said.

Police are also looking into whether gas canisters kept in the kitchen may have fuelled the fire, Kittharath said.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said a musician who was on stage told him smoke appeared from a circuit breaker close to the performance area before the electricity failed. An explosion followed, and dense smoke rolled through the room.

Lee Young Ju, a fire safety academic at Kyungil University in South Korea, said an electrical problem — possibly tied to sound or lighting gear or defective wiring — may have ignited a flame that raced along the ceiling.

On Tuesday, past customers and people mourning the dead left flowers and written tributes along barriers fencing off the damaged premises.