Bangkok nightclub inferno kills 60 New Year revellers
BANGKOK (AFP) - A fierce fire ripped through a popular nightclub in the Thai capital Bangkok early Thursday as people were celebrating New Year, killing at least 60 people and injuring 212, rescuers said.
The blaze broke out after a pyrotechnic display at the Santika club in the city's Ekkamai district, a thronging entertainment area frequented by locals and tourists. It was not clear if any foreigners were among the dead.
The two-storey club was completely gutted by the fire, with the front of the building blackened and partially collapsed, an AFP correspondent said. Around 30 charred bodies were still inside the structure hours after the inferno.
"It appears that the fire started from the area of the stage where a band was playing. There were some pyrotechnics and it appears that they started the blaze," Police Lieutenant Colonel Prawit Kantwol told AFP.
"Most of the victims died from suffocation but some were also killed in a stampede when people were trying to get out," he said.
Almost all the dead were on the ground floor, where the stage was located.
BANGKOK (AFP) - A fierce fire ripped through a popular nightclub in the Thai capital Bangkok early Thursday as people were celebrating New Year, killing at least 60 people and injuring 212, rescuers said.
The blaze broke out after a pyrotechnic display at the Santika club in the city's Ekkamai district, a thronging entertainment area frequented by locals and tourists. It was not clear if any foreigners were among the dead.
The two-storey club was completely gutted by the fire, with the front of the building blackened and partially collapsed, an AFP correspondent said. Around 30 charred bodies were still inside the structure hours after the inferno.
"It appears that the fire started from the area of the stage where a band was playing. There were some pyrotechnics and it appears that they started the blaze," Police Lieutenant Colonel Prawit Kantwol told AFP.
"Most of the victims died from suffocation but some were also killed in a stampede when people were trying to get out," he said.
Almost all the dead were on the ground floor, where the stage was located.
