A huge fire has torn through a music bar in Bangkok, killing at least 27 people and leaving 25 in hospital in critical condition.
Photos from the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar in a northern part of the Thai capital showed people fleeing as flames shot out of the single-storey building and thick black smoke billowed into the sky.
City officials said the fire broke out shortly before midnight on Sunday, and it was about half an hour until firefighters brought it under control.
By daylight on Monday morning, the site had been cordoned off as dozens of forensic officers combed through the burned remains for clues about what caused the fire.
The building’s street-facing windows had been blown out and debris littered the pavement, including charred television sets, speakers and an electric guitar.
From outside, the scale of the devastation was visible through the shattered windows, where burned-out tables, some still holding empty beer bottles, stood inside.
Thai national police chief Kittharath Punpetch said most of the dead were found trapped in windowless toilets near one of the rear exits of the bar, where they may have sheltered to escape the flames in the hall.
He said the exit had not been used, and people may have been obstructed from reaching it by a table set up in the hall to sell sweets, or because it was too dark to find it.
Access to another exit near the kitchen might also have been narrowed by shelving units and lockers, said Mr Kittharath, who visited the scene on Monday morning. There were signs that at least some of the exit doors might have been locked shut, he added.
Investigators are focusing on the ceiling above the performance stage, where they found materials that may have been used as decorative elements, he said. Police will examine whether flammable materials were used in the interior and how electrical wiring was installed across the ceiling.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters that a musician who was performing at the bar told him he saw smoke coming out of a circuit breaker near the stage before the power went out, then an explosion was heard and thick smoke quickly filled the place.
According to Bangkok’s Erawan emergency services centre, the number of injured people was 73, with 25 in critical condition. City governor Chadchart Sittipunt said most of the deaths were caused by smoke inhalation and the authorities are working on identifying victims as many did not carry ID.
Some Buddhist monks visited the site on Monday morning to pray for the victims, while nurses handed out face masks to people nearby to help protect them from smoke and lingering fumes from the burned-out building.
A registration spot was set up to gather information from relatives arriving at the scene looking for their loved ones.
Singer Sukanya Wongwongwai said she was performing nearby when she heard news of the fire and rushed to the scene because several of her bandmates were performing at the bar. She said one of them died, three were admitted to hospital and one has not been located.
Distressed family members gathered at Bangkok’s Institute of Forensic Medicine in the afternoon to identify the bodies of the fire’s victims.
In 2022, 14 people were killed by a fire at a music bar in the eastern part of the country, and more than a decade before that, 67 people were killed and more than 200 injured in a fire during a 2009 New Year celebration at the Santika nightclub in Bangkok. That blaze was apparently sparked by an indoor fireworks display.