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'Careless welder' caused fatal Pattaya fire
Report from Bangkok Post dated Monday 8 May 2006 :-
'Careless welder' caused fatal Pattaya fire
PATTAYA - An official investigation found that carelessness was the cause of a fire raging a famous pub in Pattaya, Thailand's eastern resort city, Sunday night, killing 8 people and injuring more than 50 others, a senior police officer said here on Monday.
"The fire was found to have caused by a welder who was welding a broken part of an air conditioner on the roof of the pub, with sparks dropping on a carpet igniting the blaze," Pol. Lt. Gen. Jongrak Jutanont, Commissioner of the Provincial Police Region 2, told journalists.
"The pub was also found to have no fire exit and the back door locked," he added.
Witnesses said the fire broke out at around 09:30 p.m. from a DJ booth and quickly spread to other parts of the entertainment venue in the nothern Pattaya area.
All those who die in the blaze--five men and three women--are employees of the pub, including the welder; while some tourists are among those injured who were rushed to hospitals.
The number of those injured has risen to 54 so far.
Fire fighters put the blaze under control within two hours.
Damage to the fire was initially estimated at around Bt70 million.
Meanwhile, Pattaya Mayor Niran Wathanasartsathorn said that local welfare officials were providing assistance to all the fire victims and their families, and that the authorities concerned would inspect safety measures of other entertainment venues in Pattaya and would order the closure of those found to have sub-standardized safety measures if they fail to improve their safety systems to the required standard within a certain period of time.
----- KatoeyNewsNetwork
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