BANGKOK – At least 13 people were killed and 35 injured in a fire at a nightclub in Thailand’s eastern Chonburi province early Friday, a police official said.
The cause of the fire is still unknown and so far all the dead have been identified as Thai nationals, police said. A separate statement from Chonburi emergency services described 14 as critical.
The fire at the Mountain B nightclub, about 111 miles southeast of the capital Bangkok, started around 1:00 a.m. local time, Uttipong Somjai, superintendent of the local police station, told Reuters by phone.
Local TV footage showed people fleeing the blaze and emergency workers putting out the flames and looking through the charred premises, with shoes and bottles strewn across the ground.
An eyewitness named Nana told local TV that he was with five friends when the fire broke out at the venue.
“I saw flames above the stage, to the right. I think the singer on stage saw it around the same time and he yelled ‘Fire!’ And threw the mic at it,” he told broadcaster PPTV. “I saw a lot of bouncers in the pub engulfed in flames.”
The incident comes 13 years after arsonists set fire to a New Year’s party at Bangkok’s crowded Santika nightclub, killing 66 people. An investigation into that fire revealed a number of key breaches at the club, official corruption and a lax attitude towards security in entertainment venues at the time.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Friday assured the victims’ families that they would receive help from the authorities and urged entertainment venues nationwide to ensure proper emergency exits and security arrangements.
