‘No way out’: Survivors describe deadly Bangkok bar inferno

By Panu Wongcha-um

BANGKOK, July 13 (Reuters) – A survivor of the fire at a Bangkok bar that killed at least 27 people on Sunday night described escaping the blaze by seconds after she stepped out for a smoke.

“There was a boom – a very fast boom … There was no way to get out at all,” 41-year-old Usa Tadsree told reporters, adding that her two friends died when the fire ripped through the Thai capital’s popular Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao bar at around midnight.

She described sitting on the street as rescue workers brought out the body of a friend with whom she had been happily drinking and listening to music moments before, her face covered by a white cloth.

“I lost my mind,” she said. “It looked like she was asleep.”

The blaze – one of Thailand’s worst in recent history – also injured more than 70 people, many of them critically, and has drawn comparisons to the New Year’s Eve fire that killed 40 young partygoers at a crowded bar in Switzerland.

Thai police have said they are investigating possible negligence including obstructed emergency exits as people scrambled to flee the burning venue, where a horizontal jet of fire burst from a doorway.

The city’s disaster administration said its initial assessment was that an electrical short circuit in a ceiling air conditioner may have caused the fire, while police said there may have been issues with ​fire exits, overloaded wiring and use of flammable materials.

MUSICIAN KILLED

Among the crowds at the Bangkok bar on Sunday were musicians, a taxi driver, and young people who had come from outside the city seeking work.

By Monday morning, victims’ friends and relatives had gathered at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, where bodies were brought for identification.

“If anyone has found my son at any hospital, please inform me,” Jansuda Tanla, 41, said through tears, describing her son by his tattoo. “I have only one son,” she said.

Her son Din, 27, a singer in a Thai pop rock band, had been performing at the bar when the fire broke out, she said.

“He couldn’t finish his vocational school so he took up singing,” she said. “I told him he should give it a go. I was in debt … and he was able to pay it off for me.”

The band’s keyboard player, Kwang, was confirmed dead, his friend Sakhon “M” Meeplian, also a musician, told Reuters.

Speaking at the forensic institute, he said Kwang was a hard-working soldier who moonlighted doing musical performances.

“As a musician, I am very shocked,” he said. “It would be good for venues to have multiple exits. Musicians play to earn money for their families, none of us wanted to suffer losses like this.”

A taxi driver and father of two named as Li also died in the blaze, along with his partner.

“Li was very nice,” said Nid, his partner’s mother, who was there to help identify the bodies. “He helped drive students for free.”

BROTHER TRAPPED

Several victims had traveled to Bangkok to seek work, finding jobs as waiters.

They included a 21-year-old migrant from neighbouring Laos, Pongpaset Pongpanee, who worked at the bar alongside his brother, Kaewudon Pongpanee.

Kaewudon, 24, described grabbing a fire extinguisher to try to beat back the flames that trapped his younger brother inside.

“I heard people screaming. I wanted to go help my brother but I can’t get in,” he said. “There was smoke, dust, heat.”

Another victim, 23-year-old Sittipong Chaiyo from the province of Ubon Ratchathani, had only been in Bangkok for a month and was also working as a waiter. He was at the bar with friends, his sister said.

“I saw the news so my family told me to come and check it out. He suffocated,” said Kanyawan Bunruangthong.

“My mom is very sad,” she said. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um in BangkokWriting by Poppy McPherson; Editing by Aidan Lewis)