Society News

Bangkok pub fire: toll climbs from 27 to 33 as police point to blocked exits and negligence

A fire that broke out around midnight on Sunday, July 12, at the Rong Beer Na Lad Phrao pub in northern Bangkok has become Thailand's deadliest blaze in 17 years. The Guardian first reported 27 dead and 22 critically injured, then a toll of 30 on Tuesday; by Wednesday Al Jazeera, citing the Erawan Emergency Medical Centre, put it at 33, with around 70 people still injured.

Disaster officials' initial assessment was an electrical short circuit in a ceiling-mounted air conditioner. Most victims were found trapped in windowless bathrooms near a rear exit that was not used, the national police chief said, possibly because a table selling candy blocked the way or it was too dark. Al Jazeera added that one exit was marked staff only and investigators were examining whether combustible acoustic material around the stage fuelled the heat and smoke.

“At this time, police have established negligence as the primary theory guiding their investigation.” — Kitrat Phanphet, national police chief, via The Guardian

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said licensing rules would be reviewed after it emerged the pub was not licensed for live music, and the government ordered an urgent inspection of entertainment venues nationwide. The pub offered its “deepest apologies”.

How each outlet framed it

• The Guardian — the human toll: families at the police morgue, including two brothers from Laos who worked at the pub.
• Al Jazeera — regulation: the missing live-music licence, the inspection order and the 10,000-baht initial payment to families.
• Outlook India — the first count of at least 27 dead in the Chatuchak-area blaze.

Where the numbers differ: the toll rose from 27 to 30 to 33 within three days as critically injured patients died; injury counts also shifted between 63 and about 70.