BANGKOK – At least 13 people were killed and 35 injured when a fire broke out at a nightclub in eastern Thailand’s Chonburi province early Friday, a police official said.
The cause of the fire is still unknown and so far all the victims have been identified as Thai nationals, police said. A separate statement from the Chonburi emergency service described 14 of the injuries as serious.
The fire at the Mountain B nightclub, some 111 miles southeast of the capital Bangkok, started around 1:00 a.m. local time, Wuttipong Somjai, superintendent of a local police station, told Reuters by telephone.
Local television footage showed people fleeing the fire and emergency workers dousing the flames and looking through the burning facility, with shoes and bottles strewn on the ground.
A witness who called herself Nana told local television that she was with five friends when the fire broke out at the scene.
“I saw flames on the stage, on the right side. I think it was around the same time that the singer on stage also saw it and yelled ‘fire!’ and I threw the microphone at him, ”he told the PPTV station. “I saw a lot of pub bouncers covered in fire from the inside.”
The incident comes 13 years after pyrotechnics started a fire at a New Year’s party at the busy Santika nightclub in Bangkok, killing 66 people. Investigations into that fire found several key breaches at the club, official corruption, and revealed lax attitudes towards safety in entertainment venues at the time.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Friday assured families of the victims that they would receive help from the authorities and urged entertainment venues across the country to ensure they have emergency exits and proper security measures.
