Thai nightclub owner held over blaze as death toll rises to 15

BANGKOK • Thai police have detained the owner of a nightclub in connection with a fire at the venue that killed 15 people, officers confirmed yesterday.

The blaze erupted around 1am last Friday at the Mountain B club in Chonburi province's Sattahip district, roughly 150km south-east of Bangkok.

On Saturday, the death toll rose to 15, with most of the victims found crowded by the club's entrance and in the bathroom, their bodies severely burnt, according to the rescue service.

A senior police officer in Chonburi province confirmed yesterday that club owner Pongsiri Panprasng had turned himself in after an arrest warrant was issued.

"He remains under detention and police will seek the court's authorisation on Monday to detain him while we are investigating," he told Agence France-Presse. The 27-year-old will face several charges, including causing death through recklessness and operating a pub without a licence, the officer added.

Causing death through recklessness carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and up to 200,000 baht (S$7,700) in fines.

Flammable acoustic foam on the walls of the club accelerated the blaze, and it took firefighters more than three hours to bring it under control, the rescue service said.

In the aftermath of the blaze, relatives of the victims - mostly aged between 17 and 49 - travelled to Bangkok to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered an investigation into the fire.

Photos of the pub taken after the blaze showed a charred stage and sound equipment.

The deadly episode comes as Thailand tries to revive its tourism industry, which is a major contributor to the national economy.

The sector has been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic and has only recently begun to attract significant numbers of international visitors.

The fire was reminiscent of a deadly blaze that swept through the high-end Santika nightclub in Bangkok just as the new year began in 2009. That fire, which may have been started by fireworks, killed 66 people, many of them foreigners, and injured more than 200.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, NYTIMES