The death toll from an enormous fire in a Bangkok music bar has increased to 30, officials said Tuesday, because the investigation into the blaze proceeded while relatives of the victims took on the grim task of identifying their family members and retrieving their bodies.
Greater than 70 people were injured within the Sunday night tragedy, with 24 of them still in critical condition, in response to a press release by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
Initial details in regards to the victims, which haven’t been updated since Monday, said 18 of the dead were women and nine were men, all Thai except one bar worker from Laos. The injured included 41 women and 34 men.
The blaze on the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar, town’s deadliest in 17 years, broke out shortly before midnight in a northern a part of the Thai capital. Firefighters needed half an hour to bring it under control.
The bar, which in Thai calls itself a brewery or beer hall, claimed to accommodate as many as 600 customers. It was not clear what number of were present Sunday night.
An investigation into the explanation for the hearth and whether the bar was following safety regulations is ongoing. Most people who were killed were found trapped in windowless bathrooms where they could have sought to flee the flames, police said.
Bangkok governor orders safety survey and higher enforcement
Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said Tuesday he has ordered town’s administration to conduct a sweeping survey of such establishments to evaluate risks. Town can even step up enforcement of existing laws to enhance safety standards, he said.
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Former patrons of the bar and other mourners visited the location Tuesday, adding to the growing pile of flowers leaning on the guardrails cordoning off the placement of the blaze.
Handwritten messages in Thai and other languages, including Korean, were left alongside white flowers, expressing condolences to the victims.
Debris from the bar, including melted musical instruments and blackened chairs, lay scattered along the sidewalk, moved there Monday by officials investigating the explanation for the hearth.
University student Thanakon Phoklang said he was passing by and desired to pay his respects.
“It was regrettable,” he said. “It’s inconceivable to feel the rest.”
The general public clamor for answers and motion regarding the tragedy has included relatives of the dead who went to Bangkok’s Institute of Forensic Medicine to gather their bodies on Tuesday.
Families weep as they retrieve bodies
Gathering at a loading area for vehicles, relations wept as they walked with coffins that were then loaded into an ambulance and brought away.
Namthip Tubsuk, a mother of two and teacher nicknamed “Ice,” died in the hearth, in response to her aunt Jittiya Phaiklaw, who focused on reports alleging exit doors had been locked.
“They shouldn’t have locked the doors,” Jittiya said. “In the event that they were afraid the shoppers would get away, they may have had the safety guard staff minding them away.
Jutatip Surakumhang, a friend of Namthip, said an apology was owed.
“I feel there have to be someone coming out to apologize to everyone who died. There have been deaths deserving an apology. It was heartbreaking,” Jutatip said.
The bar issued an apology and condolences Monday on Facebook and vowed to cooperate with investigations into the hearth.
The relatives and friends of one other deceased victim, 35-year-old Bangkok native Top Sarobol, also got here to the forensic institute to accompany his body. They wept as his coffin was brought out and loaded into the van to be returned home.
“For his family, it is difficult to simply accept it. His grandmother is old. She all the time said let her grandson cremate her,” his friend Nuttakarn Sevoy said. “But the fact is opposite of what we wanted.”
Speculation in regards to the causes of the tragedy has been rampant but mostly unconfirmed, while experts have drawn general conclusions about fire safety in Thailand.
Engineering expert suggests problems needs to be probed
On Monday, the president of the Thailand Structural Engineers Association, Amorn Pimanmas, told reporters outside the bar that, while he had not inspected the venue, he observed some risk aspects that would worsen fire hazards.
He said the constructing is enclosed, has low ceilings and could have used foam as decorative materials, without adequate flame-retardant treatment. Combined with limited air ventilation, smoke would accumulate quickly, he said, creating toxic air that might be the major explanation for death for a lot of victims.
He also noted that officials said the bar was licensed as a restaurant with a live music venue fairly than an entertainment venue since it was situated outside the designated zoning for such businesses. Amorn said that may exclude it from the stricter fire safety requirements for entertainment venues.
“There have to be some form of revolution regarding fire safety procedures, and I feel law enforcement can also be very necessary,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t have the law, but it surely’s the issue of how the law might be strictly enforced to any extent further. I feel the federal government should answer this query.”
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