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Report from The Nation dated Tuesday 9 May 2006 :-

Eight staff burn to death in Pattaya pub blaze

Police are certain careless work by an air-conditioning mechanic caused a blaze at a popular pub in Pattaya which killed eight staff on Sunday.

Officers are inspecting whether the building was modified to meet safety standards and whether any fire exits were provided.

Route 999, right in the heart of Pattaya, caught fire on Sunday night while more than 100 staff were having a meeting before opening for business.

The fire killed five dancers and three male staff including the air-conditioner mechanic, Kamnung Phaolek, and injured 57 others.

Nutcharin Wongyam, 25, said 80 dancers called coyote girls who dressed in the style of dancers from a movie of the same name, were in the pub at the time.

She said she was in the dressing room and heard the sound of an explosion in the ceiling. A fire broke out and spread rapidly. Many staff escaped through the front gate but some were trapped inside.

Some of them were helped out by rescuers who broke through a wall but others choked on the smoke and lost consciousness. Fire fighters took about an hour to control the fire.

Police officers led by Police Region 2 Commissioner Lt-General Jongrak Juthanon, yesterday inspected the scene with civic officials and continued to search for more bodies, but no more have been found.

The police estimated the damage at about Bt20 million.

Jong-rak said from initial investigation, the pub's mechanic, Kamnung, who was fixing air-conditioners, had accidentally fallen, causing a gas tank in the ceiling to ignite and explode.

Route 999 is a 12-metre-high building on three rai of land.

It was modified last December at a cost of about Bt50 million. The pub had become popular with both Thais and foreigners and received around 300-500 visitors a day.

Pattaya mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn said the building was declared a hazard as it had been feared it might collapse.

He said before the pub was opened, the building was found to have been illegally modified.

Officials had ordered work on it to stop and revised plans submitted, but the pub owner ignored their orders.

"We are checking to see whether the pub had provided standard emergency exits," Nirun said.

Officials said most pubs in Pattaya only had an entrance and no fire escape.

In this case, most of the deaths involved new staff who were unfamiliar with the building so they failed to find the right escape routes. Officers will inspect the building and consider whether it needed to be demolished.

Nirun said he would order an inspection of other entertainment spots to prevent further incidents and take legal action against any pub flouting the law.
--- KatoeyNewsNetwork