“Most of the people who died were found in the toilets. When the fire broke out, they panicked. There were no lights,” national police chief Kitrat Panphet said.
Kaew-udon Poungppany, 24, from Laos, fought back tears as he described trying to reach his younger brother, who did not survive.
“I grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed it at the door… but I couldn’t go any further. I heard people screaming,” he told journalists.
One survivor escaped by seconds after she stepped outside for a cigarette, Reuters news agency reported. “There was a boom – a very fast boom… There was no way to get out at all,” 41-year-old Usa Tadsree said.
She described seeing rescuers carry out the body of a friend she was drinking and enjoying the music with, just minutes earlier.
“I lost my mind,” she said. “It looked like she was asleep.”
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.
Despite official promises to improve fire and electrical safety standards following previous incidents, they are still often poorly enforced.
