53 dead in BKK nightclub fire

[beer monkey]

I am Surprised its not more..Big Club, Big Fire, 1 known Exit..capacity 1000...dead 63...13 still in IC.

[izzix]

Canadian among victims of Bangkok nightclub fire

Updated Tue. Jan. 6 2009 6:57 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

A Canadian was among the 62 people killed in a nightclub fire in Bangkok on New Year's Eve, Canada's Foreign Affairs Department confirmed to CTV News on Tuesday.

It was previously thought that no Canadians were killed in the Dec. 31 fire. But Thai authorities, after having identified all of the bodies, counted one Canadian citizen among the victims.

Consular officials have been in contact with the Canadian victim's family to offer assistance and support, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Daniel Barbarie told CTV News. "Due to the Privacy Act, no further information can be released," he said

The blaze began just as revellers were counting down the last few seconds of 2008.

Police said was it likely sparked by a fireworks display on the stage in the club. The party was to have been a grand send-off for the popular nightclub, called Santika, which is set to move to a new location from its current spot in the Ekamai entertainment district.

The nightclub is popular with tourists, and dozens of foreigners were injured in the blaze, including Australians, Belgians, South Koreans and Americans.

Some survivors remain in hospital in critical condition. Police said criminal charges will be filed against Wisuth Setsawat, the Thai-Chinese owner of the club.

[beer monkey]

66 to date...

Arrest warrants issued for Zantika Pub's directors

Police authority has issued arrest warrant for two Zantika Pub’s directors on two charges, while more warrants will be further issued for the both special effect and fireworks operating teams. The death toll from the Zantika’s fire is now 66.

Police General Chongrak Jutanon, a Deputy Commander-in-Chief of National Thai Police, revealed today (January 12) that the investigation officers had requested for the court’s approval to issue arrest warrant for two Zantika Pub’s directors, including Mr. Wisook Rejsawat, a major shareholder of the Pub and Mr. Suriya Litrabeua, the Pub’s committee member, on grounds of two charges.

The first charge concerned a joint conspiracy to commit crime without intention which led to deaths and injuries to others. Both offenders could face a sentence of less than 10 years of imprisonment and less than 20,000 baht in fines or both. The second charge would relate to permitting minors under the age of 20 years old into the venue, a felony of which could result in the sentence of less than 50,000 baht in fines.

After inspecting the site, the engineers of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Public Works Investigation team revealed that the locale should not be able to accommodate more than 500 customers, a limit of which was exceeded as more than 1,000 attendants were inside the venue on the night of the incident (December 31). Furthermore, reports also suggested that the Zantika’s Pub safety measures were not even up to the standard.

Mr. Wisook and Mr. Suriya have been recommended to turn themselves in as soon as possible, while police authority would issue more arrest warrants for both the special effect and the fireworks operating teams. Thus far, the recent report indicated that one of the burnt victims had just passed away at the Bangkok Hospotal, raising the death toll up to 66 at this point.

[izzix]

Singer arrested in Santika New Year's blaze

BANGKOK, Jan 27 (TNA) - Thai authorities have arrested the singer of the band "Burn" after police investigators determined that he lighted the firework, that triggered the catastrophic New Year's fire at the countdown party at the Santika Club, killing 66 people and injuring hundreds more.

The arrest warrant issued against singer Sarawut Ariya, charged him with negligence causing death, serious injuries and damage to property with a possible maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment. Bail was set at one million baht (28,650 dollars).

Deputy National Police Commissioner Gen. Jongrak Juthanont said that Mr. Sarawut had denied all charges, saying he will fight the case in court.

The police said according to witnesses, Mr. Sarawut set alight the fireworks and that the flames shot upward some eight to ten metres. In less than 30 seconds, the blaze, which gutted the pub, started.

According to the witnesses, the special effects planned during the countdown party extended less than five metres in height.

Gen. Jongrak said that the case involved six suspects. Mr. Sarawut was detained at Thonglor police station, awaiting.

Meanwhile Gen. Jongrak also said he ordered investigation into a comment from the Ministry of Justice that a senior police officer was a partner in the Santika Club, which might be linked to the question of why the Santika Club was not usually visited by police even though some of its operations were illegal. (TNA)

General News : Last Update : 14:08:55 27 January 2009 (GMT+7:00)

[wazza]

One of the survivors has sued under common law and by passing the courts, gone to mediation this week,

sueing for a few million and includes stress, injuries, and other issues,

[arjay]

From the BBC News website:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7865349.stm

Thai police blamed in club blaze
By Jonathan Head
BBC News, Bangkok

Thai officials investigate at the Santika nightclub in Bangkok (2 January)

An initial investigation into a fire at a Bangkok nightclub that killed 66 people has found serious failings by the police and city authorities.

The fire ripped through the club on New Year's Eve, and many people died because the building had only one exit.

Thai investigators said that the signatures of building inspectors had been forged repeatedly.

They also said the police ended raids on the club in 2005, after an unnamed person was made a shareholder.

While the police initially focused their attention on what caused the fire at the Santika Club, a parallel investigation ordered by the government has looked at a much bigger and more sensitive question - how was it that a building with no fire exits and no official permit to operate as an entertainment venue could stay open for four years?

This was not an obscure back-street club - the Santika was one of the most popular in Bangkok.

That second investigation has now released some preliminary findings; they report that the signatures of the building inspectors had been repeatedly forged, and that the club had avoided paying tax.

More revealingly, they say police raids on the club - a common occurrence in Bangkok - mysteriously stopped in 2005, right after an unnamed person was made a shareholder.

Sources close to the investigation have told the BBC that person is a police colonel, and that many more police officers are implicated.

None of this will come as any surprise to those familiar with Bangkok's lively and lucrative nightlife.

Pay-offs to the police are a routine part of business, say nightclub owners - fire safety inspections are not.

But Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has signalled that he wants this to change by ordering the Department of Special Investigations - Thailand's FBI - to take over the inquest into the Santika fire.

That increases the chances that any police role in this tragedy will be exposed.

[beer monkey]

Thai investigators said that the signatures of building inspectors had been forged repeatedly.

They also said the police ended raids on the club in 2005, after an unnamed person was made a shareholder.
-------------------
Pay-offs to the police are a routine part of business, say nightclub owners - fire safety inspections are not.

But Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has signalled that he wants this to change by ordering the Department of Special Investigations - Thailand's FBI - to take over the inquest into the Santika fire.

That increases the chances that any police role in this tragedy will be exposed.

I am shocked...!!

Sounds like the PM won't let it slide though...hopefully someone will take responsibility and pay.(and not only in monetary terms)

[westerby]

By Jonathan Head
BBC News, Bangkok

Source: BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 981841.stm

It was just after midnight in the Santika, a popular Bangkok night-club stylishly decorated like a faux-gothic church.
A crowd numbering around 1,000 packed the dance floor, cheering in the New Year to the pounding music of a band called Burn. The name was to prove tragically apt.
Many of the revellers held lit sparklers, which they waved in the air along to the beat. Fireworks were set off from the stage.
Some of the party-goers began looking up at the ceiling. There were what looked like flames, not big at first, flickering around the top of the stage set.
Was this part of the show? It was not.
"I felt hot on my head," said Tak, who was at the club with her Australian fiance.
"I looked up at a small fire in the ceiling - then after a few seconds, 'voooom', there were lots of flames, everyone ran at the same time, and then the lights went off."
Video from a security camera inside the club showed burning debris raining down from the ceiling on to the crowd.
Choking through the smoke and stumbling in the dark, often over the bodies of people who had collapsed, Tak made her way to the single exit, and out into the night air.
The fire brigade were at the club within minutes, but the building was already a blazing inferno.

Disturbing details

Sixty-six people died that night, trapped in a building with no sprinklers, no fire exits and no emergency lights.
Shocked by such a toll in a city whose lively nightlife is a big draw for foreign tourists, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva toured the ruins of the Santika the next day and vowed a thorough investigation.
Three months later, there has been little progress.
The police investigation focused on trying to find who started the fire.
The police pinned the blame on the lead singer of Burn, charging him with setting off fireworks, even though the security camera video showed they were ignited automatically.
They charged the club's owners with recklessness, and with admitting people under 20 years old.
But a parallel investigation set up by the Ministry of Justice revealed far more disturbing details. The Santika, it turned out, was licensed as a private residence, not a club.
It was operating in a zone where nightclubs were banned. The city architect's signature approving the building design had been forged.
And because it was officially just a house - despite being one of Bangkok's best-known and most conspicuous nightclubs - there had been no fire safety inspections.

The place was a death-trap.

This inquiry discovered something else. The owners of the Santika had applied in 2004 for a licence to operate as an entertainment venue, but had been refused by the police.
The police filed 47 charges of operating illegally against the club owners from June 2004 until 17 September 2006.
But after that date there was no further police action against the club, one of whose recent shareholders, clearly listed in company documents, is a senior police officer, Colonel Prayont Lasua.

Bureaucracy and bribes

Chuwit Kamolvisit is one of Bangkok's most colourful characters - a perennial candidate for mayor and a man who has made a fortune out of the city's notorious night-life.
He is also one of the few people willing to speak openly about official corruption, of which he has had plenty of personal experience.
"The police in Thailand are businessmen, not policemen," he said.
"They don't work for society, they work for their own pocket.
"When you have a residential permit you build it, and you change the purpose, alright? Nobody cares. Nobody worries, because you go the police and you pay the police."
Mr Chuwit explained that the bureaucracy involved in running a nightclub legally was so convoluted and expensive it was much easier just to pay bribes and operate illegally.
There is no evidence to show that bribes were paid by the Santika's owners, nor is there any evidence to suggest that Colonel Prayont Lasua has used his position as a senior officer to halt police action against the club.
But the failure by the police and the city authorities to act against a club that was so obviously illegal is hard to explain.
Repeated requests by the BBC for interviews with the police and the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) have been turned down.
And now that second investigation has been stopped.
In February it was handed over entirely to the police, the very agency implicated in the safety lapses, and whose earlier efforts have been widely ridiculed.

'Informal style'

Minister of Justice Pirapan Salirathavibhaga said it was normal practice in any crime for the police to handle it, even if they are implicated.
They have to be willing to expose any of their own officers connected to the crime, he said.
But officials inside the ministry have told the BBC that privately Mr Pirapan is furious that the police have regained control of the investigation and that he wants it handed back to the DSI, Thailand's equivalent of the FBI, which comes directly under his authority.
At the time of writing, that has still not happened.
So how safe are the hundreds of other clubs still running every night in Bangkok, thronged with locals and foreigners?
Under a new law passed at the end of 2007, all public buildings have to be inspected for safety, and of the nearly 6,000 in Bangkok, around half have already been checked.
But according to the BMA, none of those was a pub or nightclub - and even then, only 200 buildings passed their inspection.
"If you go to a nightclub in Bangkok, and you want to be safe, always check where the exit is, and stay close to it," says Prasong Tharachai, from the Engineering Institute of Thailand.
Improving fire safety would not be expensive, he argues. He hopes that after the Santika tragedy that will now happen.
But Chuwit Kamolvisit doubts it ever will. "We prefer things to be informal," he said. "That is the Thai style."

[wazza]

Very disturbing, as we thought the PM would / might have handled it and ensured a detailed investigation.

Why doesnt the Minister just order it handed over, he is the ultimate boss in this situation.

TIT