Bangkok bar fire kills at least 27
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Suurenmoista. Suurenmoiseen elämään. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Monday, the 13th of July, these are our main stories. A fire has killed at least 27 people in a bar in the Thai capital, Bangkok. The US and Iran launch more attacks amid conflicting claims over whether the Strait of Hormuz is open or not. And we'll hear about the Chinese man accused of being Mexico's fentanyl king. also in this podcast. As a family, we now have been given permission to think about what life could have been like for us if Ruth had been reprieved. The granddaughter of the last woman to be executed in Britain tells us what her conditional pardon means for the family. We're beginning in the Thai capital Bangkok where a fire at a busy bar has killed at least 27 people and injured more than 60.
Some of those in hospital are in a critical condition. Others who are at the venue are still missing. Outside the bar these people are trying to find their friends.
My friend who was singing on stage said at first they noticed the smell of something burning. Then a little after, they saw the ceiling was on fire. Some people were injured because of the debris from the ceiling because it seems that the ceiling was made out of foam material to absorb sound.
Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Chan Weerankun has been to the scene.
I asked one musician that happened to be on the stage when the incident took place. He said that there was a fire at the cut-out switch and after that thing happened very quickly and everybody tried to flee themselves from the smoke and the flame.
Our correspondent Jonathan Head is outside the bar and has been telling me the latest.
from outside this. It's quite a substantial building, very typical of the bars you can find thousands of the kind all over Thailand. It would have been actually filled with tables. They're usually very crowded. So from outside this morning, we can see they put some police tape up there. There have been forensic inspectors going in and out throughout the morning. There is this awful smell, this acrid smell of burnt plastic. And you can see some of the furniture that's not been burnt piled up outside. A few completely melted musical instruments from the band that was on stage that had been left outside. And all the windows, these very narrow windows, have been shattered probably by the heat. Apart from that, you don't really get a sense of the horrific scenes that onlookers witnessed when there were incredible jets of flame roaring out through the exits.
making it very hard for people to run out. And we saw from video taken people racing out with their clothes on fire. So the fire clearly moved extremely quickly inside, what witnesses say. The power went out, the room filled with smoke. It made it very, very difficult in a large space packed with people and furniture to find their way out. And of course, as we know now, many people did not get out. Even those who sought safety in a bathroom did not survive.
And this isn't the first fire of this kind in Thailand, is it?
It's not, and it's indicative of persistent safety issues in Thailand, and that relates to things like road safety as well, building safety, accidents that should be entirely preventable continually happening. I mean, I covered a fire in a nightclub back in 2009, so 17 years ago, where 66 people died. It was found that the exits were blocked, there weren't enough of them, and that the ceiling was insulated with incredibly inflammable material that ignited almost instantly. Now, we don't know the cause of this fire, but from what eyewitnesses are saying, again, from the moment it started, it moved very, very fast indeed and made it very difficult for people to get out. It's not clear how well illuminated the exits were or whether even all the exits were free to get out of.
That will be... discovered in the investigation. Bars in this country operate in a fairly casual legal environment where corruption is endemic.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–6:42
2
How did the Bangkok bar fire unfold and what are the reported casualties?
6:42–12:32
3
What eyewitness accounts and forensic details explain how the Bangkok blaze spread so fast?
12:32–22:03
4
What safety and regulatory issues in Thailand could explain repeated nightclub fires?
22:03–29:15
5
What happened in the latest US-Iran exchanges and is the Strait of Hormuz open?
29:15–30:27
Speakers
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