Thread: Dozens die in Bangkok Nightclub fire

I Just got this horrific breaking news message from the BBC

'Dozens die in Bangkok nightclub fiire'

It doesn't name the club yet here is the link:

BBC Breaking News Report

Update: The club has been named as Santika which I believe is on Ekamai and I think was having a closing down party soon with some superstars.

^Correct, 56 confirmed dead and over 100 injured...

Looks like it was a place called Santika, or maybe The Santika...

At least 53 people have been killed in a fire in a nightclub in the Thai capital, Bangkok, police said, quoted by Reuters news agency.

More than 100 others were injured in the blaze, which broke out as people took part in New Year's Eve celebrations, the agency reports.

A Thai police official told Reuters the cause had not yet been determined.
A witness told the BBC that he had seen a number of bodies being carried away from the club, named as the Santika.

The witness, Andrew Jones, said survivors leaving the club told him the fire broke out on the stage after fireworks were lit just after midnight.

He said the club was popular with foreigners and locals alike.

The club had only one main exit, at the front, and many people had been trapped inside, he said.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | 'Dozens die' in Bangkok nightclub

I think the club was packed as it was billed as a huge farewell night and a lead story on Bangkok Recorder

Bangkok Recorder Santika

:: VIPBangkok :: Be a VIP in Bangkok - Santika

B I S E A N: BEST CLUBS in SE ASIA: Santika Club Bangkok

I woke up when the breaking news came in but somehow I don't want to go back to bed.

This is horrendous news, the club must have been full of young people wanting to have a good time and enjoying life.

I have visions of out of date firetrucks and ambulances unable to get through the traffic (Thais drivers never seem to move over for them) and the total disregard of health and safety rules here.

My heart goes out to the families of those unfortunate people who have died and I wonder what must be going through the minds of those who survived. I hope this is not the 2009 to come.

The misses just translated something for me on Thai Rath and she says it's saying it was farangs lighting fireworks in the bar.

Oh dear

Where was the Thai Visa party being held????

Originally Posted by buriramboy

Where was the Thai Visa party being held????

Larry's Dive, so TV lads/laddettes are safe.

Why is it that when you read about nightclub fires around the world, the casualty rates are always high, surely some lessons must have been learnt?

Only one main exit apparently.
Bloody tragic. All those young people out for fun, and some mental heavyweight thinks fireworks are ok inside. It doesn't take much to cause something like this.

I once got caught up in a drug testing at a Ratchadar nightclub, and the lineup to the testing station at the front door made me realise how vunerable we all were if there was an emergency. I now sit near the exits in Bangkok.

So sad

Originally Posted by mediamanbkk

Why is it that when you read about nightclub fires around the world, the casualty rates are always high, surely some lessons must have been learnt?

Many lessons have been learned, only the owners of these establishments choose to ignore advice/legislation in order to earn more. Plus H&S in Thailand is virtually non existent, so no lessons will be learned.

Very sad occasion.

Yeah definitely sad and it need not happen.

Checkout Lucifer's in Pattaya - fk me if that place isn't an accident waiting to happen. Fire trap if there was ever one.

Bangkok nightclub fire kills 58 people

09:57 AEST Thu Jan 1 2009
13 minutes ago



At least 58 New Year revellers were killed when a fire ripped through a nightclub in Bangkok.
More world news:


At least 58 people, including a number of foreigners, died when a fire swept through a high-class nightclub jammed with as many as 1,000 New Year's revellers in the Thai capital, police say.
Police officers said about 130 others were injured when the blaze broke out shortly after midnight (4.00am AEDT) at the Santika Club in an entertainment area of Bangkok.

The officers, who declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the press, said the club was packed with about 1,000 people. Rescue workers said they believed other bodies were still inside the blaze-gutted building.
Police Major General Chokchai Deeprasertwit said the fire may have been caused by firecrackers brought into the club by guests or sparks flying from a New Year's pyrotechnics countdown on the nightclub stage.
Chokchai said death came through burns, smoke inhalation and injuries during the stampede to escape from the club, which had only one door for entry and exit.

A firefighter at the scene, Watcharapong Sri-saard, said another door at the rear of the building was known only to the staff. He said a number of staircases inside the club as well as bars across the second-floor windows also made escape difficult.
The rescue workers said most of the bodies were found in the basement of the club, which attracts a well-heeled crowd of Thais and foreigners. The corpses, placed in white body bags, were laid out in rows in the parking lot in front of the club which was strewn with shoes of the victims.

A video provided to AP Television News by one of the rescue workers showed bloodied, bruised and burned victims being dragged out of the burning club or managing to run through the door or shattered windows. Flames were racing through the entire building during the rescue operation and the roof of the concrete building later collapsed.
Police and rescue workers said the rescue operation was delayed because of heavy New Year's traffic in the Ekamai entertainment district and the large number of cars parked at the club.

One local website about the entertainment scene in Bangkok described the club as attracting "an affluent Thai student crowd, with Euro models and Westerners also popping in" with a "whiskey-sipping crowd all focused on a large stage".
Another site says that the high ceiling and a cross in the main room makes one feel "like walking into a church".

The BBC's intrepid reporter Jonathon Head says in his report on the BBC website, "Thailand's capital is renowned for its nightlife, but many clubs are loosely regulated and often have very poor fire safety systems"

RIP

Bodies, some of them probably alive, were falling off the stretchers as the rescue workers rushed them away. The flames were glowing through the broken glass windows. A part of the building had already collapsed," said Andrew Jones, who arrived at the scene shortly after the fire erupted.
Jones, a teacher in Bangkok from Salt Ash, England, entered the club briefly, seeing corpses charred beyond recognition inside and people fleeing with burns over 90 per cent of their bodies.

WTF are they allowing people to reenter a burning nightclub for???

There doesn't seem to have been any attempt to move sightseers either. A picture on the Bangkok Post website shows hundreds stood in the road "viewing" the body bags!