Press Releases
61 dead in Bangkok club blaze
A devastating fire at a New Year's event in a Bangkok nightclub has left at least 61 people dead with more than 212 injured in a stampede to escape from the blaze which broke out at the Santika Club just after midnight. A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman said four Britons were injured but could not confirm whether any were killed and the Australian Department of Foriegn Affairs and Trade has said that three Australians have been injured. Other injured foriegn nationls include Japanese, Dutch and Nepalese. Many of the injured have suffered burns and have breathing difficulties from smoke inhalation at Bangkok's private with some in intensive care. "It appears that the fire started from the area of the stage where a band was playing. There were some pyrotechnics and it appears that they started the blaze," Police Lieutenant Colonel Prawit Kantwol said. "Most of the victims died from suffocation, but some were also killed in a stampede when people were trying to get out," he added. The two-storey club, which is popular with Bangkok's elite, has a capacity of 1000 people although it was not clear at the tine of writing how many were present at the time of the blaze.
