53 dead in BKK nightclub fire

[beer monkey]

A video from inside ..moments before it went up....plenty of people holding some sort of fireworks.

Video here

[Seaserpent]

The band that played were named "Burn", the last two remaining letters of the clubs name means Death In Thai, the DJ's both look like a Coffin and there is a big cross on the wall, theme of the night "Goodbye Santika"


Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch


Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch


Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

[beer monkey]

interesting regarding the remaining letters....

ฆ่า

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a link to the club website/forum with details of injured and what hospitals they are in...with contact details, might be of use to someone somewhere.

http://www.santikaclub.com/webboard/san ... rum_id=600

[beer monkey]

a link to the club website/forum with details of injured and what hospitals they are in...with contact details, might be of use to someone somewhere.



http://www.santikaclub.com/webboard/san ... rum_id=600

[beer monkey]

Santika Pub owner to be charged after body of a minor was found

The deputy national police chief says the burnt-down Santika Pub owner will be charged for allowing people under 20 years of age to enter the pub after a body of a 17-year-old person was found.

Deputy Police Chief Pol.Gen.Jongrak Juthanont (จงรัก จุฑานนท์) said that police were preparing to take legal action against the owner of Santika Pub for allowing a minor to enter the place. 25 witnesses have been interrogated and a major share holder of the pub Wisuk Setsawat (วิสุข เสร็จสวัสดิ์) was contacted for an interrogation today (January 2nd). DJs who were in the blaze incident and gave interviews to the media were also asked to contact police officer as well.

21 bodies are still unable to be identified. 24 of 27 cars parked at the area have been brought back by cousins of the victims. The rest three cars are still parked at the area. . Their cousins can bring the cars back by contacting Thong Lor Police Station.

[izzix]

Santika Pub open on Administrative Court's injunction: deputy police chief


Deputy Police Commissioner-General Pol Gen Jongrak Juthanon said the Metropolitan Police was opposed to the operation of Santika Pub but the pub was allowed to operate by an injunction of the Administrative Court.

Jongrak said.

He said the Metropolitan Police did not allow the pub to be open in 2004 on grounds that the place did not conform to standard but the injunction allowed the pub to operate pending a ruling in the case.

The Nation

[jackspratt]

Should be easy enough to find the judge who issued the injunction, and then have a peek at his bank account. Perhaps yearly payments since 2004.

[beer monkey]

a few squirming bottoms on seats i should think....

[wazza]

Lots of the patrons involved arethe kids of well to do influential people and I imagine they might be asking a few questions at high up levels of authority.

As always, it will eventually be settled out of court and saving face.

After all, you can shoot a guy in a pub, ram your merc benz into innocent bystanders at a bus station and still get away with it, if your Dad's got the right connections.

[westerby]

Lots of the patrons involved arethe kids of well to do influential people and I imagine they might be asking a few questions at high up levels of authority.
As always, it will eventually be settled out of court and saving face.
After all, you can shoot a guy in a pub and still get away with it, if your Dad's got the right connections.

I agree, the World isn't going to see any high profile court cases coming out of this. I hope I'm proved wrong though.

[wazza]

Accountabilty V's Saving Face = Economic Stimulus with more Baht being released to support the Bank deposits of certain people.

Sadly news syndicates are now reporting 60 dead inc 1 deceased from Singapore.

[izzix]

[quote]

Most of killed victims of pub fire are foreigners: deputy police chief


Deputy Police Commissioner-General Pol Lt-Gen Jongrak Juthanon said most of those killed in the Santika Pub fire were foreigners.

He said they were tourists from Nepal, Austria and Japan.

The Nation




[/quote]

[izzix]

Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Jongrak Chuthanont said the owner of Santika on Ekamai road applied for an operating licence in 2004, but the request was rejected because construction was unfinished at the time.

The owner then asked the Administrative Court to temporarily approve the operation, which it did.

Deputy city clerk Wanwilai Phromlakhano said the pub building received a construction permit when it was built in 2003. However, approval of the operating licence rested with police, who were in dispute with the owner of the building. Ms Wanwilai did not elaborate.

Pol Maj-Gen Chokechai Deeprasert, commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's Division 5, said Santika was not insured. Its insurance coverage expired four months ago and was not extended as the pub lease contract was about to expire.

As the insurance had expired, police have ruled out the possibility of arson. However, experts have yet to conclude whether the fire started by accident, Pol Maj-Gen Chokechai said.

Police were waiting for Santika pub owner Wisuk Setsawat to show up for questioning.

Pol Maj-Gen Chokechai said he did not know when Mr Wisuk would turn up and added that the pub owner suffered a respiratory problem in the fire.

Mr Wisuk was hospitalised but police said his whereabouts were not immediately known.

Police will call Chris Pongpithaya, the owner of the pub building, and Suriya Ritrabue, the pub manager, for interrogation instead. Worapot Inthulak, chief of the Watthana district office, said an early investigation attributed the fire to fireworks set off inside the building during the Santika's farewell party that night.

He said the fireworks set ablaze materials inside the building. The fire killed 59 people and injured at least 243. Twenty-one bodies, 14 of which had been taken to Chulalongkorn hospital, still could not be identified.

Nantana Sitthisak, head of Chulalongkorn hospital's forensics department, said six of the 14 bodies were burned beyond recognition. An autopsy report shows all were Asian women. Another two days to a week would be needed to complete the body identification process, she said.

A body identification centre has been set up at the Thong Lor police station. Pol Lt-Gen Danai Wongthai, chief of the Police Forensic Science Department, said identification would have to rely on DNA tests.

Some of the dead's relatives filed complaints on Friday. Yai Waythita from Pattani said her younger brother who died in the Santika fire always carried his ID card and 10,000 baht in cash with him, but both were missing.

Patthida Phosri, who lost her husband Arthithep, said she had first seen the body of her husband wearing a gold necklace weighing five-baht and two gold-framed amulets, but the valuables later disappeared.

Another Bangkok bar caught fire early Friday, but there were no casualties.

The four-storey Rawhide bar on Soi Cowboy off Sukhumvit Soi 23 caught fire after hours. A faulty electric connection to decorations on a Christmas tree was blamed.

The mezzanine floor and ceiling tiles on the first floor were damaged but no one was injured because the fire happened after the pub had closed.

Like the Santika, the Rawhide bar had been full of customers on New Year's Eve, but was very quiet in the early hours of Friday.

[izzix]

Harrowing

accounts emerged of the scenes of panic and fear inside the Santika

nightclub in the Thai capital's popular Ekkamai district, where more

than 200 people were also injured in the blaze just early Thursday.

Mourners

-- some with victims' coffins in the back of trucks -- trickled to the

club to pray and to give offerings to the dead, while scores of people,

some of them foreigners, remained in hospital after the tragic night.

"The place was crowded and the incident was caused by reckless people," interior minister Chavarat Charnvirakul told reporters.

"We do not know yet whose wrongdoing caused the accident -- police are still investigating."

Thanawut

Santhong, who lost three friends, told the Bangkok Post newspaper that

each guest was given a sparkler to light during the countdown to 2009,

but suddenly smoke engulfed the club and all the lights went out.

"People were in panic after the blackout," he said. "The situation became worse as people screamed 'fire' and tried to escape."

He

recalled party-goers crying, screaming, pushing and stepping on top of

one another as they struggled to steer a way through the few doors out

of the club, while flames rained down on people's hair and clothes from

the ceiling.

Local resident Tenawat Komolripart told AFP: "I saw

people trying to get out of the nightclub. Some were burned on about 10

percent of their bodies. They sat down and tried calling their friends."

Early

reports by police suggested the inferno might have been caused by a

pyrotechnics display on stage soon after the New Year countdown, but

officials said they were also investigating the wiring in the club and

the sparklers.

Police General Jongrak Jutanont, deputy national

police commissioner, said police had since 2004 refused Santika an

operational licence because of safety concerns.

The club management had been seeking an injunction from the

administrative court, and was allowed to remain open while the case

progressed.

Jongrak said they were still waiting for the major shareholder of the club to present himself to police for questioning.

"Initially

police will file charges against him for allowing people in who were

under 20 years old, because police investigations found people who were

17 inside the Santika on that night," he said.

Emergency services

headquarters secretary Chatree Charoencheewakul said the latest death

toll was 59, with 86 of the injured still in hospital, 38 of them in

intensive care.

A Singaporean national was among those killed and

41 foreigners, including citizens of Australia, France, Japan and

Britain, were injured.

Twelve

women and four men remain unidentified, a forensic official said, and

police have tacked graphic photos of their charred remains at a police

station in the hope of finding out their identities.

Outside the gutted club, families of the dead and Buddhist monks gave offerings and said prayers.

People placed incense, flowers, fruit and even a flashlight for the dead on a table in front of the barricaded building.

"I

want to express my condolences to the families of the dead and I hope

their souls rest in peace," said 22-year-old Achara Porn, whose husband

died.

Many of the trapped party-goers died of smoke inhalation,

while others were crushed to death in the stampede to get out of the

front exit.

There was a back exit as well, but that was known only to staff members.

Fire

brigade officials have said the death toll was so high because there

were few exits and the windows on the upper floors had iron bars across

them. Some victims were also trapped in the basement of the club.

The

club, popular with Bangkok's elite, has a capacity of 1,000 people, and

witnesses said it was heaving when the fire broke out.

bkkpost

[wazza]

Well the Santika Clubs Directors ( 13 ) are going to be charged.

Wonder if the ongoing investigations will also focus on why the appeal for the licence to operate was still ongoing 4 years later.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24 ... 09,00.html

[beer monkey]

How many more pubs/clubs out there operating the same i wonder....lets hope some have put forward plans for improvement after this disaster.

[wazza]

Well Nana Plaza, is a classic Fire trap. Same Judge paid off their to prolong any appeal. Too much Baht involved there with BIB and facility fees.

Soi Cowboy has at least 2 exits out of there.

All the Ping Pong shows in Pat Pong, only 1 small narrrow exit down the stairs.

Most of the pubs in Kho San road are single door entrances.

In fact most of the large Thai pubs clubs, ive been to in BKK have the same problem.

What will happen is that the BIB will inspect all these ( coz thats part of any investigation into this tragic event ) all will be given enforcement infringement notices, wont be able to comply, there fore need to pay a bridging facilty fee to ensure a blind eye is turned.

[beer monkey]

yeah thinking back all the joints i have been in i wouldn't even think as to where the exits were...at the time i guess i wouldn't have even thought about it....too much other stuff to take in, but will be in the back of my mind now.

[Irish Alan]

I believe the total dead is up to 63 now.

[wazza]

with 13 still in intensive care on ventlators i imagine.

65-70 will be the final count roughly ????