Bangkok fire kills 59 New Year clubbers

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-01 15:24

BANGKOK - A blaze at a top Bangkok nightclub killed 59 people including a Singaporean celebrating the New Year and injured more than 100 others, police said on Thursday.

Policemen and rescue workers look at the bodies of victims outside Santika nightclub in Bangkok January 1, 2009. A blaze at the top Bangkok nightclub killed at least 58 people celebrating the New Year on Thursday and injured more than 100 others, rescue workers and witnesses said.[Agencies]

Some said the fire was caused by fireworks, others that it was an electrical fault.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva visited the injured at one hospital and the charred building, saying fire crackers should not have been brought inside the club.

"We were all dancing and suddenly there was a big flame that came out of the front of the stage and everybody was running away," partygoer Oh Benjamas told Reuters on the street outside the smouldering wreckage of the Santika club.

Although details were sketchy, Oh said clubbers were given sparklers shortly before midnight and as soon as the clocks heralded the start of 2009, fireworks started going off inside the dance area, sparking a conflagration.

"People started running for the doors and breaking the windows," she said.

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