By: Max Cao

A fire in Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, broke out in a packed nightclub last Saturday, killing at least 13 people and injured more than three dozen. The police have not reported the reason for the unexpected fire and are still investigating.

The nightclub, Mountain B, was built illegally as an addition to an existing restaurant. The building had no license and was constructed in an area where entertainment sites were not allowed.

Witnesses reported that the fire seemingly started on the ceiling of the nightclub’s stage. A witness who only gave her first name, Nana, said “I saw flames above the stage, on the right side. The singer onstage saw it too at about the same time, and he shouted ‘fire!’ and threw the microphone at it.”

The blaze struck just as Thailand finally started to revive its tourism sectors. The tourism industry has already been staggered by the Covid pandemic and has only recently begun to attract significant numbers of tourists. The fire will most likely delay Thailand’s tourists for a while.

This isn’t the first time a Thailand has received hard hits from these disasters. A fire, in a Bangkok nightclub called Santika, killed at least 59 people and injured more than 200 shortly after midnight as revelers were celebrating the New Year.“The fire spread very quickly because there was a lot of fuel in the club, like alcohol, foam and balloons,” Lieutenant Sutin said.

The major tourist country has suffered many direct hits from not only The Mountain B nightclub fire, but also a string of disastrous events, the last one at the Santika nightclub. Hopefully, Thailand can recover from its shock and regroup soon.

Link:

https:// www.nytimes.com/ 2022/ 08/ 05/ world/ Asia/ thailand-nightclub-fire.html

At Least 59 Die in Bangkok Club Fire – The New York Times (nytimes. com)