A relative of a sufferer in a music bar fireplace pays respect to the sufferer’s physique at a police hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, July 14, 2026.
Sakchai Lalit/AP
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Sakchai Lalit/AP
BANGKOK — The demise toll from an enormous fireplace in a Bangkok music bar has elevated to 30, officers mentioned Tuesday.
Greater than 70 folks have been injured, with 24 of them nonetheless in important situation, based on an announcement by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
The blaze on the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar, the town’s deadliest in 17 years, broke out late Sunday in a northern a part of the Thai capital. Firefighters wanted half an hour to convey it beneath management.
The bar, which in Thai calls itself a brewery or beer corridor, claimed to accommodate as many as 600 prospects. It was not clear what number of have been current Sunday evening.
An investigation into the reason for the hearth and whether or not the bar was following security rules is ongoing. Most people who have been killed have been discovered trapped in windowless bogs the place they might have sought to flee the flames, police mentioned.
Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt mentioned Tuesday he has ordered the town’s administration to conduct a sweeping survey of such institutions to evaluate dangers. The town will even step up enforcement of current legal guidelines to enhance security requirements, he mentioned.
A person places flowers exterior the music bar the place a hearth killed quite a lot of folks in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, July 14, 2026.
Wason Wanichakorn/AP
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Wason Wanichakorn/AP
Former patrons of the bar and different mourners visited the positioning Tuesday, including to the rising pile of flowers leaning on the guardrails cordoning off the situation of the blaze.
Handwritten messages in Thai and different languages, together with Korean, have been left alongside white flowers, expressing condolences to the victims.
Particles from the bar — like melted musical devices and blackened chairs — lay scattered alongside the sidewalk, moved there Monday by Thai officers investigating the reason for the hearth.
College pupil Thanakon Phoklang mentioned he was passing by and wished to pay his respects, calling the loss regrettable.
On Monday, the president of the Thailand Structural Engineers Affiliation, Amorn Pimanmas, advised reporters exterior the bar that, whereas he had not inspected the venue, he noticed some threat elements that might worsen fireplace hazards.
He mentioned the constructing is enclosed, has low ceilings and should have used foam as ornamental supplies, with out ample flame-retardant remedy. Mixed with restricted air air flow, smoke would accumulate rapidly, he mentioned, creating poisonous air that might be the primary reason for demise for a lot of victims.
He additionally famous that officers mentioned the bar was licensed as a restaurant with a dwell music venue relatively than an leisure venue as a result of it was positioned exterior the designated zoning for such companies. Amorn mentioned that will exclude it from the stricter fireplace security necessities for leisure venues.
“There must be some kind of revolution regarding fire safety procedures, and I think law enforcement is also very important,” he mentioned. “It’s not that we don’t have the law, but it’s the problem of how the law could be strictly enforced from now on. I think the government should answer this question.”
