A Fire Rips Through a Packed Bangkok Pub, Killing 27 With a Blocked Exit Trapping Victims Inside
Most of the dead were found in the restrooms of the Na Ladprao bar after an apparent electrical fault sparked an explosion and thick smoke, with one exit blocked by a shelf.
A fire tore through a crowded pub in northern Bangkok shortly before midnight on Sunday, killing at least 27 people and injuring more than 60 in one of the deadliest nightlife disasters in Thailand's recent history.
The blaze broke out at the Na Ladprao pub, also known as Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao, in the capital's Chatuchak district, where a live band was performing to a packed house. A musician who was on stage said he saw smoke pouring from a circuit breaker near the performance area moments before the power cut out. An explosion followed, he said, and thick black smoke filled the windowless venue within seconds, plunging patrons into darkness as they scrambled for the exits.
Bangkok's disaster administration said its initial assessment pointed to an electrical short circuit in a ceiling air conditioner as the likely cause. But investigators quickly turned their attention to the building's safety failings. Police found that one of the pub's exit doors was obstructed by a shelf, leaving a gap so narrow that only one person could squeeze through at a time. Most of the people who died were discovered in the restrooms, where they appear to have fled to escape the smoke and became trapped.
"When the fire broke out, the lights went out and people panicked," a police official said, describing a chaotic crush as patrons tried to find their way to the doors in the dark. Survivors described climbing over one another and groping along walls to reach the street, while rescue workers pulled bodies from the smoldering interior late into the night. Video from the scene showed people fleeing as billows of smoke rose above the low-rise commercial strip.
At least 73 people were taken to hospitals, according to Thai officials, with some in critical condition, and the death toll could rise. Forensic teams worked through the early morning hours to identify the dead and document the wreckage. The tragedy has revived painful memories of Thailand's 2022 Mountain B pub fire in Chonburi province, which killed more than two dozen people and exposed lax enforcement of fire codes at entertainment venues.
Prime Minister-level officials ordered an immediate review of safety compliance at nightlife establishments across Bangkok, and police said negligence charges were possible against the pub's owners and operators. The disaster once again spotlights a chronic problem in Thailand's booming entertainment districts: crowded, poorly ventilated venues with blocked or inadequate exits, where a single electrical fault can turn a night out into a deathtrap.
Originally reported by Al Jazeera.