Thai PM orders probe into nightclub inferno that killed 14
About 40 also injured in blaze worsened by flammable acoustic foam on club's walls
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SATTAHIP (Thailand) • Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday ordered an investigation into a massive blaze that tore through a nightclub, killing at least 14 people.
The fire broke out at around 1am at the Mountain B nightspot in Chonburi province's Sattahip district, about 150km south-east of Bangkok.
Video footage posted by the rescue service showed desperate revellers fleeing the club screaming, their clothes ablaze, as a huge fire raged in the background.
The Sawang Rojanathammasathan Rescue Foundation said 14 people were killed and around 40 injured.
It said the blaze was worsened by flammable acoustic foam on the walls of the club, and it took firefighters more than three hours to bring it under control.
Mr Prayut offered condolences to the victims' families.
The dead - four women and 10 men - were found mostly crowded by the entrance and in the bathroom, their bodies severely burnt, the service said.
They were aged between 17 and 49 and believed to be Thai.
"There is no death related to foreigners," police lieutenant-colonel Boonsong Yingyong of the Phlu Ta Luang police station, which oversees the area where the blaze occurred, told AFP by phone.
One of the victims was the singer of the band playing at the club, his mother told local media.
"I don't know what to say. The death came all of a sudden," Madam Premjai Sae-Oung told reporters. She said a musician friend who managed to escape had told her the fire broke out in front of the band and spread rapidly.
A witness who went by the name of Nana told local TV she was with five friends when the fire broke out at the venue.
"I saw flames above the stage, on the right side. I think it was about the same time the singer on stage saw it too and he shouted 'fire!' and threw the mic at it," she told broadcaster PPTV.
Images of the aftermath showed how the fire had turned the inside of the club into a blackened wreck, with charred metal frames of furniture scattered among ashes.
Police are investigating if the one-storey building had fire escapes, and engineers are inspecting the structure amid fears it could collapse.
Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda told reporters it appeared that Mountain B was operating "without permission" as an entertainment venue.
Royal Thai Police Assistant Commissioner Sompong Chingduang said the owner was under investigation for apparently changing the venue from a restaurant to a nightclub without permission.
Concerns have long been raised about Thailand's lax approach to health and safety regulations, particularly in its countless bars and nightclubs.
A massive inferno erupted at a New Year's Eve party at Bangkok's swanky Santika club in 2009, killing 67 people and injuring more than 200.
In 2012, four people were killed in a fire caused by an electrical fault at a club in Phuket.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
