Thread: Family of three and maid perish in furniture shop fire

Four people died of suffocation and the shop owner injured when a fire broke out at a three-storey row shophouse in downtown Phuket early Saturday.
The owner of the furniture shophouse Chokechai Furniture, Mrs Chanhorm Chakaeo, broke her hand and legs when she jumped down from the third floor room to escape the fire.

Rescue team rushed to pick her on the ground. She told the team four persons were still trapped in the room next to hers.

But firemen could not break into the room because of the raging fire and thick smoke coming out from the room.
Besides all the windows of the room were fixed with anti-theft iron grills, thus preventing them to escape.

The fire was put out and kept under control two hours later by about 19 fire engines.

Rescue team searched the room and found three bodies on the bed, with the man falling over the body of his wife who hugged her 9-year-old son in her arms.

Another woman lied dead on the floor near the grill window.

Their bodies were not burned and they were believed to die from suffocation.

The three bodies of the same family were identified as Mongkol Ruangchai, 43, his wife Nucharee Saengprakhone, 43, and their son Theerawat Ruangchai.

The woman on the floor was the maid.

Police suspected electrical short circuit was the cause of the fire with initial damage estimated at about 10 million baht.

Family of three and maid perish in furniture shop fire | Thai PBS English News

Sad story, but not surprising considering that many shophouses have no escape routes.
Anti theft grilles should be releasable from the inside, but of course they are not, and fire services should have ladders capable of reaching the second or third floors........... if it wasnt for the spaghetti of electrical cables outside every building that renders fire ladders useless.

Always have "inside" security grills and always have one hinged with a lock!

Originally Posted by taxexile

Sad story, but not surprising considering that many shophouses have no escape routes.
Anti theft grilles should be releasable from the inside, but of course they are not, and fire services should have ladders capable of reaching the second or third floors........... if it wasnt for the spaghetti of electrical cables outside every building that renders fire ladders useless.

Many security grills are fixed, with no consideration given to escaping a fire or other emergency.