Thai experts struggle to identify victims of nightclub blaze

Published on Saturday 3 January 2009 19:21

FORENSICS experts in Thailand yesterday struggled to identify charred corpses, while 26 victims were still receiving emergency medical care following a New Year's Eve fire in a packed Bangkok nightclub.

The death toll stood at 61 yesterday, although a final list of casualties, which include a number of foreigners, has yet to be issued, said the Narenthorn Emergency Centre, which is co-ordinating the medical aid operation.

Dr Chatree Charoencheewakul at the centre said two more deaths were reported on Friday night, while 26 people were still in intensive care units at several Bangkok hospitals. Police were still trying to identify 15 bodies.

Interior minister Chavarat Charnvirakul said the fire could further damage the country's image, already battered by widespread political protests and a recent week-long closure of the capital's two airports. The unrest has crippled the country's tourism industry at a time when the economy was already sagging amid the global financial meltdown.

Police Major General Jongrak Jutanont said authorities were focusing on whether the blaze was sparked by a countdown fireworks display organised by the club owners or by firecrackers brought in by guests.

A Singaporean was among the dead, while injured foreigners were from Australia, Belgium, Britain, France, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the US.

More than 200 were injured from smoke inhalation, burns and injuries sustained during a stampede out of the one main door of the club, which catered to young affluent Thais, tourists and expatriates.

"It's about the lax law enforcement which we need to strengthen," Charnvirakul said while visiting victims at Chulalongkorn Hospital. "But an accident like this can happen everywhere and in every country.

"But I really don't want this to happen because it came from carelessness."

No charges related to the fire have yet been filed, but the owner, Thai-Chinese businessman Wisuth Setsawat, was initially charged with allowing underage customers into the Santika Club.