First, the lights went out, followed by the smell of smoke. Moments later, an explosion ripped through a packed live music venue in Thailand and a fire began spreading rapidly, sending panicked patrons scrambling for the exits.
The devastating inferno at the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao bar in Bangkok that broke out overnight into Monday (Jul 13) claimed at least 27 lives and left dozens more injured, some in critical condition.
It is the deadliest fire in Thailand since a blaze tore through Bangkok’s Santika club during New Year celebrations in 2009, killing 67 people and injuring more than 200.
Footage of the incident shared on social media showed thick smoke billowing out of the single-storey building before an intense horizontal plume of fire jets out of the doorway.
Shoes were lost and scattered as their owners fled, with phones and other belongings left behind and even clumps of hair seen on the pavement.
“Everybody was running, squeezing into each other,” recalled Athipat “Ice” Wijarn, whose band Tosakan was on stage when the fire started around 11pm local time (12am Singapore time) on Sunday.
After the power went out, the band noticed smoke coming from the electrical circuit on the wall behind them, he told Thai talk show Hone-Krasae on Monday.
“There was an explosion, and I got hit at the back of my head. I felt the heat and the burn,” he said, recounting the moment he crawled towards the exit.
Another member of the band, Anan Prasert, said that he was not alarmed when he first smelt smoke while performing, because he thought it was due to electronic equipment overheating.
He only realised that something was wrong when the smell became more like a chemical odour.
“About 10 seconds later, I noticed sparks and a large amount of smoke coming from the ceiling,” the 37-year-old said.
“As soon as I understood the situation, I quickly unplugged the cable from my bass guitar, put the bass over my shoulder and ran outside,” he added.
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