An influencer who says she has known the owner of Na Lat Phrao Bar for many years has offered a different account of the devastating fire that tore through the venue in Bangkok, insisting the owner is still alive and critically ill after reportedly re-entering the burning building to help customers.

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The fire broke out shortly after midnight on 12 July at the entertainment venue near Lat Phrao Soi 1 in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district. Firefighters brought the blaze under control in about 35 minutes, but the incident resulted in multiple deaths and injuries, with authorities continuing to investigate the cause.

On 13 July, well-known influencer Katiya livestreamed on social media to challenge online reports claiming the owner had died. She said she had spoken with people close to him and confirmed he remains alive but is being treated in an intensive care unit (ICU), where he is in a coma and under close medical observation. Doctors are reportedly assessing his condition on a day-by-day basis.

According to Katiya, the owner, who is one of the venue’s major shareholders, initially escaped the building during the fire. However, after realising that people were still trapped inside, he allegedly picked up a fire extinguisher and ran back into the building to assist those still inside despite the danger.

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She said the owner inhaled a large amount of smoke while attempting to help others and lost consciousness inside the building. Rescue workers later recovered him and rushed him to hospital for emergency treatment.

Katiya also urged the public not to believe rumours or rush to judge the owner while the investigation is ongoing. She said he had always placed great importance on safety measures at the venue, including prohibiting customers from bringing cigarette lighters inside, and argued that the true cause of the fire should be determined only after official investigators complete their work.

She added that the venue’s shareholders and business partners are returning to Bangkok to help coordinate assistance for those affected by the tragedy, including the families of those who died and those who were injured.

Daily News reported that authorities have not yet announced the cause of the fire, and the official investigation remains underway. Medical staff continue to monitor the owner’s condition while investigators work to establish exactly how the blaze started and what legal action will follow.

Picture courtesy of Daily News of Katiya

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14 July 2026

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14 minutes ago, Georgealbert said:

Katiya also urged the public not to believe rumours or rush to judge the owner while the investigation is ongoing. She said he had always placed great importance on safety measures at the venue,

Wonder how much he was charging the lolly seller to set up shop in front of one of the exits ?

26 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Wonder how much he was charging the lolly seller to set up shop in front of one of the exits ?

You can't fault his personal bravery but the deciding factor is

whether it is true the fire exit was locked .

Not the first time in Thailand .

19 minutes ago, Jim Blue said:

You can't fault his personal bravery but the deciding factor is

whether it is true the fire exit was locked .

Not the first time in Thailand .

I have heard conflicting reports as to whether the place had fire exits.. one was claiming people ran in toilets nearby in the confusion. It must have been horrendous.

55 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Wonder how much he was charging the lolly seller to set up shop in front of one of the exits ?

SHE'S AN INFLUENCER - TO ME THAT SAYS IT ALL. She will say whatever brings most benefits to her.

She's not a doctor

She's not a safety expert

She's not the police

She's an influencer - able to convince folks to buy things which have never beeen tested / approved etc. No concern whatever for what damage might be done.

Like all those who think they are glamorous because they have achieved the status of 'influencer' she needs to be investigated too.

1 minute ago, scorecard said:

SHE'S AN INFLUENCER - TO ME THAT SAYS IT ALL. She will say whatever brings most benefits to her.

She's not a doctor

She's not a safety expert

She's not the police

She's an influencer - able to convince folks to buy things which have never beeen tested / approved etc. No concern whatever for what damage might be done.

Like all those who think they are glamorous because they have achieved the status of 'influencer'.

"Katiya also urged the public not to believe rumours or rush to judge the owner while the investigation is ongoing. She said he had always placed great importance on safety measures at the venue,..."

Her comments are not valid in any way.

she needs to be investigated too.

1 minute ago, scorecard said:

Her comments are not valid in any way.

she needs to be investigated too.

She may even be a silent partner in the business.

Was she at the scene when the fire started? Influencers are not a reliable source

2 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

Was she at the scene when the fire started? Influencers are not a reliable source

No but she issued videos of herself pursing lips and pouting at the camera!

40 minutes ago, scorecard said:

SHE'S AN INFLUENCER - TO ME THAT SAYS IT ALL. She will say whatever brings most benefits to her.

She's not a doctor

She's not a safety expert

She's not the police

She's an influencer - able to convince folks to buy things which have never beeen tested / approved etc. No concern whatever for what damage might be done.

Like all those who think they are glamorous because they have achieved the status of 'influencer' she needs to be investigated too.

So you're not a fan of hers then?

One single exit door at the rear of the premises only...who was responsible for granting a licence to operate...or was it operating illegally?

1 hour ago, petermik said:

One single exit door at the rear of the premises only...who was responsible for granting a licence to operate...or was it operating illegally?

Not an electrician but isn't a circuit breaker supposed

to break ?.Not catch fire ?

So co owner built a literal firetrap and we should praise him for running in after his victims and getting a dose of his own poison? I think not. Influencer doesn't have the brains she was born with

Weirdly enough, I have never heard of a ganja shop fire.

You would expect a fire in a ganja shop, but I keep hearing about fires in bars New Jersey, Switzerland, Bangkok.

Hmmm, maybe we need a Doctor's prescription for going to a bar, not a ganja shop.

They're fully trained to deal with fire 🔥 in a ganja shop 😜

10 minutes ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Weirdly enough, I have never heard of a ganja shop fire.

You would expect a fire in a ganja shop, but I keep hearing about fires in bars New Jersey, Switzerland, Bangkok.

Hmmm, maybe we need a Doctor's prescription for going to a bar, not a ganja shop.

They're fully trained to deal with fire 🔥 in a ganja shop 😜

In a ganja shop they have weeded out all the fire hazards already.

9 hours ago, PJ71 said:

So you're not a fan of hers then?

Easy answer: I'm not a fan of influencers. They are conpersons.

11 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I have heard conflicting reports as to whether the place had fire exits.. one was claiming people ran in toilets nearby in the confusion. It must have been horrendous.

Also, there were early reports that claimed the place had been inspected in April. Haven't seen that claim since though. And don't know 'inspected' for what...

12 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

Also, there were early reports that claimed the place had been inspected in April. Haven't seen that claim since though. And don't know 'inspected' for what...

Yes heard that too, although another comment of exits with no door handles on them! It will be hard to know the truth in this event. How many venues must there be in Bangkok with lacking fire safety features.

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Yes heard that too, although another comment of exits with no door handles on them! It will be hard to know the truth in this event. How many venues must there be in Bangkok with lacking fire safety features.

Probably countless numbers of unsafe joints coupled with lax/no inspections (of any kind). The owners just go with the flow - mai pen rai. Also, we see older parts of the city crumbling. Like the MRT tunnel over by Sam Sen flooded the other day and the huge road collapse nearby a few weeks earlier resulting in the need to demolish some buildings there. Then there was that cement awning that collapsed above some old shophouses - and the contiuing deadly farce of the Rama 2 road works. Street after street in Bangkok - away from the glitzy shopping malls - are rows and rows of shuttered shophouses, presumambly that way because the land owner has redevelopment plans once the last of the remaining tenants' leases have expired. They are dilapidated eye sores and vulnerable to fire and vandalism

Did the venue have a sprinkler system? If so was it in working order? Sounds crazy I know but these systems have to be regularly checked for operability. You cant install a sprinkler system a number of years ago and never have it checked. I assume they did have all the requirements but I would have expected a fire system to be set off.

On 7/14/2026 at 6:09 AM, ikke1959 said:

Was she at the scene when the fire started? Influencers are not a reliable source

Mostly lour mouth know all / know nothing females.

However the full on loud mid aged fay lady bag in my son's inlaw's tells people he can influence anything to make sales.

He's tried his hand at selling untested not approved shampoos and beauty creams (very overpriced) on my Thai son's 2 older daughters (21 and 15) and told them to ask me (their grandfather) for cash to pay him. Older g'daughter is intelligent enough to talk him down. Then l'boy old her she's rude.

Their Thai mother (l'boy's younger sister) banned from the house.

I've had problems (same with several other farang professors) with an influencer in my class class (masters degree class). Even sending hand written notes to students during class time.

I grabbed all the notes from her desk and sent them to the dean's office. The influencer was dismissed and all her grades cancelled, and banned from registering for any further classes at the same uni.

17 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

Also, there were early reports that claimed the place had been inspected in April. Haven't seen that claim since though. And don't know 'inspected' for what...

not difficult to guess.... envelopes and free drinks...Even in Pattaya when they inspect things, they don't find sexworkers.....or drugs

If what she is saying is true and the owner was very concerned about safety why were the alternative exits blocked? That has to be a major concern of any bar or club owner in the event of an emergency like this.

It's always nice to get an alternative viewpoint but one has to take into mine that the vast majority of influencers are completely full of crap.

48 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Mostly lour mouth know all / know nothing females.

However the full on loud mid aged fay lady bag in my son's inlaw's tells people he can influence anything to make sales.

He's tried his hand at selling untested not approved shampoos and beauty creams (very overpriced) on my Thai son's 2 older daughters (21 and 15) and told them to ask me (their grandfather) for cash to pay him. Older g'daughter is intelligent enough to talk him down. Then l'boy told her she's rude. L'boy's sister asked him 'how any bottles of shampoo and jars of beauty creams have you sold?' He went all shy but later admitted none, becase when he tried to sell to his friends (all mid aged loud l'boys) they laughed at him.

The Thai mother (l'boy's younger sister) banned l'boy from the house.

I've had problems (same with several other farang professors) with an influencer in my uni class (masters degree class, 70% Thai 30% i'national students most from Germany, 100% English program). The Thai 'influencer' lady was even sending hand written notes trying to sell profucts to students during class time.

I grabbed all the notes from her desk and sent them to the dean's office. The influencer was dismissed and all her grades cancelled, and banned from ever registering for any further classes at the same uni.

2 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

Did the venue have a sprinkler system? If so was it in working order? Sounds crazy I know but these systems have to be regularly checked for operability. You cant install a sprinkler system a number of years ago and never have it checked. I assume they did have all the requirements but I would have expected a fire system to be set off.

I heard/read some time ago that only buildings above a certain height were requred to have sprinkler systems. Not sure if that's the case now.

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

Mostly lour mouth know all / know nothing females.

However the full on loud mid aged fay lady bag in my son's inlaw's tells people he can influence anything to make sales.

He's tried his hand at selling untested not approved shampoos and beauty creams (very overpriced) on my Thai son's 2 older daughters (21 and 15) and told them to ask me (their grandfather) for cash to pay him. Older g'daughter is intelligent enough to talk him down. Then l'boy told her she's rude.

Their Thai mother (l'boy's younger sister) banned him/her from our house.

I've had problems (same with several other farang professors) with an influencer in my class (masters degree class). Even sending hand written notes to students during class time.

I grabbed all the notes from her desk and sent them to the dean's office. The influencer was dismissed and all her grades cancelled, and banned from registering for any further classes at the same uni.

Dean was also concerned that 1 or 2 or all of the German i'national students would report all of this to their home unis in Germnay which would likely result in the i'national exchange agreement(s) being cancelled.

2 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

I heard/read some time ago that only buildings above a certain height were requred to have sprinkler systems. Not sure if that's the case now.

It would be considered normal to have some form of operational fire system in place but I never hear of any when incidents like these recent ones occure.

As with so many things here that are considered as "optional", safety is one of them... there are always safety violations in every disaster, and it's not just the Thais, it's the Chinese too. To me it shows a deep cultural contempt for the value of life and the importance/priority of monetary profit... not hard to deduce.

9 minutes ago, Sir Dude said:

As with so many things here that are considered as "optional", safety is one of them... there are always safety violations in every disaster, and it's not just the Thais, it's the Chinese too. To me it shows a deep cultural contempt for the value of life and the importance/priority of monetary profit... not hard to deduce.

It might be cultural in that sense. And I agree money is often at the heart of abuse. But it could also be cultural in knowing one can break the rules and nothing will happen most of the time. When enforcement is unlikely people will try to get away with things. We see it everyday here - from ignoring rules of the road, to not paying condo maintenance fees, to hiding pets in buildings where pets are banned, to not returning security deposits, to refusing warranty repairs, to flagrant disregard for labor laws, like docking a worker's pay when sick - then charging them for the money the shop didn't earn due to their absence, firing them after the probationary period to avoid offering benefits, etc. - all breaches of Thai labor law, but no one does anything.

On 7/14/2026 at 6:00 AM, scorecard said:

On 7/14/2026 at 5:57 AM, scorecard said:

SHE'S AN INFLUENCER - TO ME THAT SAYS IT ALL. She will say whatever brings most benefits to her.

On 7/14/2026 at 5:57 AM, scorecard said:

Her comments are not valid in any way and I very much doubt her comment that the owner placed strong importance on safety. She's an 'influencer' she will say anything, including lies' to advance her valueless status.