300 Bangkok Families Homeless As Slum Houses Burnt Down

[george]

300 Bangkok slum houses burnt down

KHLONG TOEY, BANGKOK: -- A huge fire swept through a squatter community in Klong Toey early Tuesday morning, causing some 300 families to be homeless.

The fire started at 1:15 am and burnt down some 300 houses in about 4-rai area in the Soi-1 Klong Toey community on At Narong Road before being contained.

A resident was slightly injured, police said.

Police said the fire started from the house of Kitti sae Lim and he would be taken for questioning.

His neighbours alleged that he set fire to his house following a quarrel with his wife. The neighbours said the man became angry after finding his wife sleeping with another man in his shanty house.

Fire fighters backed up by some 30 fire trucks took about three hours to control the blaze.

When the fire was ranging on, explosions of cooking gas tanks were heard now and then.

Fire trucks found it difficult to reach the fire scene because the part of the At Narong expressway was occupied by many vehicles left parking there.

They had to use long hoses from the trucks to douse the fire.

Some trucks went up on the expressway to douse the fire from the above. Two lanes on the expressway were closed to traffic.

The Klong Toey district office put up temporary shelters for the homeless families to stay inside the compound of the Klong Toey flat.

District officials said each family would receive a primary compensation of Bt3,000.

-- The Nation 2007-02-13

[Jai Dee]

Klong Toey District expedites aid to residents affected by fire incident this morning

Klong Toey District is expediting aid to more than a thousand people in Klong Toey Community, where a fire incident took place this morning.

Director of Klong Toey District Office, Duangporn Wattakawanit (ดวงพร วัฒกวณิชย์) said police reported that the fire started at a house where a couple had fought and intentionally set on a fire. No death has been reported while there is only one injury.

The fire spreaded throught three blocks of residences in the community. About 200 to 300 houses on an area of more than three rai were damaged. The district is encouraging the fire-affected people to register with it to receive assistance.

The district is preparing to discuss the restoration of the area with the Port Authority of Thailand, which owns the space.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 13 Febuary 2007

[Jai Dee]

Photographs from The Manager - 13 February 2007

[LivinLOS]

Anyone check for matches in the pocket of the land owners ??

Sure fire (groan) way to clear a 3rd world shanty town.. Really who is going to back Klong Toey squatters, does anything the MiB would listen to them over a Poo Yai land owner ??

[gummy]

The point is it is alleged to have been started by a man vexed that his wife was sleeping with another man in his house so he set fire to it - Why would he burn down his own house ? There is a warning here in having unprotected sex - have a fire extinquisher with you for protection.

[Maejo Man]

Sounds suspiciously like an "organised" land clearance to me, and they are just shifting the blame to the poor bloke who was heard to have an arguement with his wife. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt. Watch this space for a new high rise development soon

[leisurely]

That is extremely sad. Lucky that noone was killed out of 300 dwellings. That really is quite remarkable.

On a different tangent, how far is 3000 baht likely to go in getting a new home together? The mind boggles.

[ColPyat]

Anyone check for matches in the pocket of the land owners ??

Sure fire (groan) way to clear a 3rd world shanty town.. Really who is going to back Klong Toey squatters, does anything the MiB would listen to them over a Poo Yai land owner ??

In Klong Toey slum the people are highly organised, and have backing from some very powerful organisations. It would not be easy there to do something like this and get away with it.

Fires in Klong Toey slum and similar areas are very regular features, and mostly are indeed caused by accident.

[peter991]

Squatters or not - it's very sad for anybody to have their home destroyed. It probably won't even make the front couple of pages of the Bangkok Post or the Nation.

If 300 homes were destroyed in a similar sized western city, it would be news around the world.

Peter

[Jai Dee]

Klong Toey's fire may be an act of arson

The acting national police chief said Tuesday that it was possible that the fire at Kloeng Toey community early this morning was an act of arson. Pol Gen Seripisuth Temiyavej said the site where the fire was thought to have started was located near a busy walkway where anybody could access without notice.

The police chief and General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, chairman of the Council for National Security, visited the site of the fire which left hundreds of people homeless. More than 170 dilapidated houses in the crowded community were destroyed.

More from the Bangkok Post here.

[NedKelly]

She must have been shaggin an old flame......

[chrisjune]

here's a shot from my rooftop..the fire produced so much smoke...

[Acquiesce]

Squatters or not - it's very sad for anybody to have their home destroyed. It probably won't even make the front couple of pages of the Bangkok Post or the Nation.

If 300 homes were destroyed in a similar sized western city, it would be news around the world.

Peter

They are not comparable to homes in the west, what constitutes a home in this area is a 15ft by 15ft box made from anything you can get hold of and a corigated iron roof.

The Ex apparantly recently threatened to burn down her house, he no longer lived there.

[george]

Update:

Khlong Toei blaze hurts one and leaves 1,800 homeless

BANGKOK: -- A fire destroyed more than 200 homes and displaced more than 1,800 residents in Bangkok's Khlong Toei slum late on Monday night, leaving one woman with minor burns and investigators scratching to find the cause.

A man accused of torching his former home in a jealous rage said he would never do such a thing to the community where he was born and his parents still lived.

Kitti Malithong said he was with his new wife at another home and had not met his ex-wife again after she had found a new husband.

Tha Rua police were interviewing neighbours who claimed they saw the man throw a bottle of petrol at his former home. But he had not been charged with any crime.

Nongluck, Kitti's ex-wife, said she smelled something burning and heard a loud bang before the fire broke out on the first floor of her home. She jumped from the second floor to escape the approaching flames and sustained bruises and minor blistering to her face and arms. Police are checking her claim of a blackout which conflicted with what her neighbours had said.

The Lock 1 section of the vast Khlong Toei slum contains around 500 homes on about four rai of land owned by the Port Authority of Thailand.

Governor Apirak Kosayodhin declared the area a disaster zone for 45 days and said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration would consult with the port authority on what to do with the site and the 1,800 victims. Households would receive Bt3,000 each in assistance from the city. Many people were given survival kits and relief supplies yesterday morning.

Acting National Police chief Seripisut Temiyavej said the incident was possibly a set-up. He assigned a special team of police to look into the cause of the inferno, which started at 1.15am and spread over a large area before multiple blasts rocked the area as cooking gas cylinders exploded.

It took 30 fire trucks and hundreds of firemen three hours to contain the conflagration. Apart from the firemen, police, rescue workers and city officials, senior officers from the First Cavalry Regiment joined in the probe ito determine if arson was a motive.

-- The Nation 2007-02-13

[Jai Dee]

Army and PTT helped fire victims in Klong Toei

The Royal Thai Army cooperated with the PTT Public Company Limited (PTT) in helping the fire victims in Klong Toei.

PTT President Prasert Bunsumpun said the army and his company jointly gave 38- "Smart Pack" gas tanks and survival kits to the fire victims. The total cost of the donation is about 650,000 baht.

The fire accident happened in Klong Toei at 01:00 AM, and it troubled many local people.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 14 Febuary 2007

[Jai Dee]

Police close off Klong Toey to conduct investigation

Authorities have closed off the Klong Toey community to conduct an investigation into a the cause of a recent fire which ravaged local homes.

The Commander of the Metropolitan Police, Pol Lt Gen Wirote Janthrangsri (วิโรจน์ จันทรังษี), has instructed officers to close off the Klong Toey community so that forensics experts can conduct in-depth investigations and evidence collection in response to a recent fire which ravaged numerous homes in the area. An interrogation area has also been established at the crime scene to collect information from all parties involved, as well as to assess the extent of damages to personal property.

Meanwhile the Commander of the Metropolitan Police Division 5, Pol Maj Gen Anan Singhiran (อนันต์ สิงห์หิรัญ) said that the cause of the blaze could not yet be determined. Information from local witnesses, and evidence from the crime scene would need to be analyzed.

The arson suspect, Mr. Kitti Saa Lim (กิตติ แซ่ลิ้ม), said that he did not set his Klong Toey home ablaze as allegations persisted, but was with his mistress at the time of the incident. Police are seeking to verify Mr. Kitti's alibi.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 14 Febuary 2007

[Tony Clifton]

Awful to see such living conditions in a city where you can find Siam Paragon, Emporium, BMWs and Mercedes every minute, 15,000 U.S. dollar cocktails, 2 international airports etc.

[Jai Dee]

Fire wreaks havoc :A packed four-rai section of a Klong Toei slum lies gutted yesterday after a fire swept through the area late on Monday night. About 300 homes were destroyed.

Source: The Nation - 14 February 2007