59 dead in Bangkok nightclub fire
Posted: 01 January 2009 0454 hrs

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BANGKOK: At least 59 people were killed when a fire ripped through a popular nightclub in the Thai capital Bangkok early on Thursday as people were celebrating New Year, a local police commander said.

The blaze broke out at the Santika club in the city's Ekkamai district, a thronging entertainment area frequented by locals and tourists. It was not immediately clear if any foreigners were among the dead.

Local police commander Colonel Suphin Sapphuang told AFP 59 people had been confirmed dead so far - 53 at the scene and six succumbed later in hospital.

At least 184 people were injured, emergency services at the scene told AFP, and had been rushed to 14 hospitals around the capital suffering burns and smoke inhalation.

"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 told AFP.

"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 1,000 people but it was not clear how many were in there at the time of the blaze.

A police officer at the scene who asked not to be identified said that there were still about 30 bodies inside the club which had not yet been recovered, although the fire was now under control.

Almost all the dead were on the ground floor, where the stage was located.

An AFP correspondent said the nightclub had been completely gutted by the fire, which broke out between midnight and 1:00am, shortly after revellers had celebrated the passing of the New Year.

The front of the building was blackened and had collapsed, the correspondent said.

Several dozen relatives, friends and bystanders were left standing outside what was left of the venue, trying to get information about loved ones from the emergency services.

Fire brigade officials and forensic police could be seen entering the club in an effort to establish what had caused the fire, as the remains of charred furniture and equipment littered the ground outside. - AFP/de