A huge fire tore through a bar in Bangkok late on Sunday, killing at least 27 people and leaving eight critically injured.
The blaze started near the stage of the bar in the popular Chatuchak district, then spread rapidly, cutting power and engulfing the room with smoke, eyewitnesses say.
Footage posted online show panicked customers screaming as they fled – some with their clothes on fire – through the flame-enveloped front door of Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao.
Firefighters, who arrived at the scene just after midnight, quickly extinguished the fire. They found the bodies of most of the victims in a bathroom, where they had apparently sought shelter.
Preliminary investigations by Bangkok’s disaster mitigation department suggest the fire could have been caused by an electrical short circuit in an air conditioner, though no official cause has been given.
Authorities have promised a thorough investigation.
This is not the first time such an incident has occured in Thailand.