Historic Low in Fertility Rates for England and Wales Signals Demographic Shift

[george]

Fire in Bangkok apartment/garment plant, three dead, several injured

BANGKOK, Aug 7 (TNA) - A strong fire has been raging a garment plant in Din Daeng area, causing three casualties so far, while the whole seven-storey building was badly damaged.

However, the fire is now under control, according to local journalists.

The incident took place at around 01:00 p.m. when the fire began to rage the second, and then third and fourth storeys of the building, where pills of fabric and jean clothes were stocked.

The whole building was later engulfed with the strong fire, spurred by chemicals in the clothing materials, while nearly a dozen fire engines rushing to the scene could not easily access to the building due to a narrow passage.

The building, which was belonged to a large garment firm in Pratu Nam area, is located in Soi Wat Tapan on Rajapralop Road.

Four people were reportedly trapped on the fourth floor of the building, two of whom are children, aged 2-3; while the rest two are baby sitters.

The two baby sitters were later reportedly dead on the fifth and sixth floors of the building; while fire fighters managed to rescue one of the two children.

However, the three-year-old boy, who was faint for long inhaling of smoke and was rushed to a nearby hospital by a police helicopter, was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

The whole building was later damaged although the blaze was under control at around 05:30 p.m., said the local journalists.

The fire also damaged three cars parking on the first floor of the building.

The fate of the other child trapped in the building has yet been known.

--TNA2004-08-07

One of Thaivisa.com members, Huski, lives in the neigbourhood, and took these dramatic photos:

Photo: Huski, thaivisa.com

Edited August 7, 2004 by george

[IamMaiC]

Thats very courageous of her. When Did this happen George?

[george]

It happend around 13.00 - 14.00 this afternoon. I spoke with Huski when it happened, and I hope Huski and his family didn't got any smoke injuries. He didn't feel well at all. Scary!

[rockhardbkk]

I also was in a fire a little more than three years ago. I was given a rope to climb down from the third floor and the rope broke. I fell 14 metres and to make a long story short, was in the hospital for 3 weeks, 4 days of which was in a coma. Needless to say that although the apartment is considered a nice, Thai apartment, there were no working fire alarms or extinguishers and when the time came to pay up with the hospital, the apartment only wanted to pay 30,000 of 125,000 baht. I told them to stick it and paid it myself. Ridiculous what these people got away with and ever more ridiculous was the sight of all the monkeys standing around doing nothing while 50 people were screaming for them to put down some beds and call the fire department. After I fell, I was told (I was knocked out) that the people one the ground just said, oh, don't worry, he dead (Tai layo). That incident left me a little bitter at the stupidity of many Thais.

[nmesparrow]

how often do fires break out in tall or high rise buildings in bangkok? i have yet to witness any big structure fire. but you know the TV, you see it happen rather often. as a note they'll mention how nice and new the building is but the sprinkler system didn't work. things like that make me happy that back in the US we have regulations and fire code laws, that are enforced. i've actually thought "what if" when i was looking for an apartment. didn't want to go near the top even though thats where all the best rooms usually are.

[george]

PRATUNAM INFERNO: Three die in factory fire

BANGKOK: -- Alleyway blaze away from water takes fire department four hours to quell despite help from police helicopter

A toddler and two adults were killed by a fire that engulfed a sewing factory in the Pratunam area in Bangkok's Ratchathewi district, police said yesterday.

It took fire-fighters and 20 fire trucks four hours to quell the flames that erupted just after 1pm.

They later said they had difficulty battling the blaze because the building in which the fire spread was enclosed in a small alley off Rajprarop Road and there was only one water source.

A helicopter from the Police Aviation Division ferried fire-fighters to the scene in an attempt to rescue the three believed to be trapped inside, but the ferocity of the blaze resulted in only the 18-month-year-old boy being removed from the building.

He died on the way to the Police General Hospital.

After the flames died down, the bodies of two unidentified adults were found on the sixth floor. They are believed to have been the boy's nannies, police said.

The fire incinerated sewing machines and clothes before spreading to nearby cars, yet the full extent of the damage has not been calculated.

Uraiwan Sonpo, 33 who lives in the area, said the first and second floors of the building were used as a sewing factory, the third and fourth floors were store rooms, and the upper three floors were rented by six families.

When the fire broke out, factory employees were still inside.

Uraiwan heard an explosion that seemed to come from the kitchen. Flames then began bellowing out from the ground floor, she said.

Factory-owner Charoensak Pansatitwong, 47, said he was at a clothes shop in Pratunam when he received a phone from his staff about the fire. At the time, his nephew and the two nannies were in the factory building.

Among those supporting fire-fighters' efforts to hose down the inferno were three Bangkok governor candidates: Chuwit Kamolwisit, Apirak Kosayadhin and Chalerm Yoobamrung.

Chuwit was quick to criticise the firemen's lack of expertise and inadequate equipment. "The equipment was broken and poorly maintained," he said.

Bangkok City Clerk Khunhing Natthanon Thaweesin said she would check the building's floor plans to verify whether it had been constructed within legal parameters and if occupiers were licensed to operate factories there.

She said she was seeking a larger police budget because another helicopter was urgently needed. The city has a shortage of fire extinguishing equipment, she added.

--The Nation 2004-08-08

[udon]

rockhardbkk,

sorry to hear of your experience.

I'd always believed that any less than 4 floors was easily survivable.

Maybe a broken leg or arm....

I now have to rethink that.......

thanks for sharing.

[udon]

and your point about the apt. insurance is important.

Our insurance with the coach co. will only pay out 50Kb for a stay in hospital.With my experience here, it is inadequate, and have upped it to 250Kb as my broken leg has so far cost me 250Kb incl 2 nights in Viphawadee (sp?)

[griffer]

I live in apartment block that overlooks the Ambassador hotel between soi 11 and 13 on Sukhumvit.

A few years ago the front section bordering Sukhumvit burnt down. We received a phone call from someone on reception in another hotel to tell us there was a fire somewhere near us. They had called because my girlfriend also worked on reception on this hotel and they were worried about her, and hopefuly me..

It was only a small fire to start with at the front of the building. It was about 2 am.

The fire services arrived, unreeled hoses, aimed the hoses at the building and then waited. No water seemed to come out for ages. They eventually got that organised ...by now the building was well ablaze.

The fire started to beat them and they retreated back towards the main Ambassador hotel. I remember seeing some poor fireman in a 'cherry-picker' swung out over the fire like a kebab. He was trying to fight the fire but they had put him too close. After some dancing up and down in the basket they eventually turned one of the main hoses onto him, but he stayed there fighting the fire.

Then all their spotlights failed. Obviously it was still fairly well illuminated thanks to the fact that 50% of the front building was now completely alight.

I phoned some fiends of mine who were staying in the Miami hotel at the end of soi 13. I was surprised when someone sleepily answered the phone, and I suggested they opened the curtains. They were the width of the soi away from the building which was fully alight. No-one in their hotel had raised them or pushed the fire alarm, dispite the fact that the firecrews were on the roof of their hotel fighting the fire with the water from their swimming pool.

The front building of the Ambassador was burnt to the ground. Thankfully there was a 'fire-break' between that and the main Ambassador, otherwise I fear it could have been an almighty disaster.

Coincidentally we have an american ex-firechief (I know!!!..but I believe him) who lives in our building. He was saying that once you get over I think floor 10 they have no ladders to reach..let alone enough space round the buildings to set up the equipment. He was saying that he periodically goes down through the fire exits on our building and comes back and blasts reception if he finds them locked. I also went down the outside stairs once just to see how it works. I got stopped at the pool floor because the gate was locked..but it was easy enough to climb round it as long as you had a head for heights.

Ever tried the fire doors in your building????

[otherstuff1957]

From the pictures I'd guess that Huski and I live in the same apartment complex, though I live in the old, 7 story building behind the taller, new building that the photos were taken from. Our apartment is on the seventh floor and if I look to my left from where I am sitting at my computer, I can look directly at the penthouse of the burnt building.

My wife and I were about to leave the apartment at about 12:30 yesterday, when we noticed a burning smell. Looking out our window we saw a column of black smoke rising up from the soi two buildings away from us. At first I thought that it was coming from a small laundry there or that a couple of woks that are usually being used every morning had caught on fire, but then we realized it was coming from the big white building on the other side of the soi. My wife called in to the apartment office to report it, but found that they alread had called the police/fire department. As we were directly downwind from what was obviously a rapidly growing fire we decided to grab my passport, a bag that we kept other important papers in and get out.

When we arrived downstairs I saw a couple of men running toward the fire with fire extinguishers and two or three people holding on to a badly leaking fire hose that was hooked up to one of the water mains under the main apartment building. I had been intending to just walk out the back way and jump in a taxi (we had a 2pm appointment in Nonthaburi) but instead grabbed a towel and wrapped it around the leaking hose and started to hold on. On of the security guards showed up with another towel a moment later and the two of us spent several minutes futilely trying to staunch the leak in the hose. I guess that that hose wasn't long enough anyway, because a few minutes later another fellow shut down the water, disconnected the first hose and hooked up a second one.

We went forward to the front entrance of the apartment complex and could see that the fire was really taking off. It was far beyond being able to be put out with fire extinguishers and small hoses, but everyone wanted to try to do something. The apartment security guys started to bring out the two spiced together hoses and everyone pitched in and got them untangled and stretched out to the burning building. Just as they started to spray the water, the first fire truck arrived. We quickly got ourselves and the apartment's small, leaky hose out of their way.

The first fire truck arrived at about 1pm, half an hour after the fire started.

At about this time my wife reminded me the one of us had spilled beer on her digital camera and it was in the repair shop until Wednesday.

While we were standing around I started chatting with an Englishman who had been close to the building when the fire started. He said that the fire had started in the ground floor car park and had spread upwards. There was a woman out in front of the building who was very upset and he thought that she was saying that her baby was still in the building. He had tried to go in, but the heat had already been too intense, he couldn't get within 30 feet of the building.

The fire trucks continued to arrive and soon a network of hoses were leading from the apartment building towards the burning building. They had both engine driven pumps and small gas powered pumps, although some of the latter would not start!

Although Chewit's criticism of the fire department's poorly maintained equipment seemed justified, I cannot fault their courage. Many of them were working right next to the fire. At about 2 or 2:30 a crane lifted a man wearing an orange jumpsuit, oxygen tank and regulator up to the 4th floor balcony and he stepped off and entered the burning building. At this time the first three floors were burning out of control and the rest of the building was engulfed in smoke. I didn't see him leave the building, but he must have been the one to locate the one child that they airlifted out.

Rumours spread through the crowd during the course of the fire. First we heard that there was a yai (grandmother) and a baby trapped in the upper stories. Later we heard that two people were confirmed dead and that one might be saved. Then someone else said that several people were still alive, trapped on the top floor. Another rumour claimed that there was a factory which employed illegal Burmese in the building.

At about 3pm the helicopter arrived. It hovered over the building for a few minutes and then left. About half an hour later it returned and lowered a man on a rope reel down to the front 3rd or 4th floor balcony. By this time the fire, though still smoking heavily and still burning in places, was starting to get under control. A couple minutes after being dropped, the helicopter reeled the man back in. We could see that he had a baby in his arms and the whole crowd gave a cheer.

While I cannot be sure what was going on with the helicopter, from the ground it LOOKED as though they were not ready to reel a rescuer out the first time they came by and had to go back to their base for additional equipment or something!

At about 4:30 or 5, we left to meet some friends. By this time the fire was almost out with most of the hoses being deployed from the building next door, which appeard to have escaped almost unscathed!

This morning I can look across at the penthouse and see that it looks amazingly undamaged. The plants to the left are blackened by smoke, but about 1/2 of the plants are still green and healthy looking. The walls of the top floor are still white and the red tile roof looks untouched. Strange to think that three people died there yesterday.

[john b good]

Whilst not wanting to mitigate the seriousness of the event and the fact that at least three died it sounds like a real Laurel and Hardy film scene.

Hoses that are not long enough, hoses that are leaking, someone (well intentioned) running towards the building with a couple of fire extinguishers.

The emergency services in the realm are a joke as further evidenced by this fiasco.

[Darknight]

Whilst not wanting to mitigate the seriousness of the event and the fact that at least three died it sounds like a real Laurel and Hardy film scene.

Hoses that are not long enough, hoses that are leaking, someone (well intentioned) running towards the building with a couple of fire extinguishers.

The emergency services in the realm are a joke as further evidenced by this fiasco.

you can all bring it down to their "save face" and "ma pen rai" attitude.

It will take another 30 years before these things will be up to Westerns standards. You either accept it or move out again i'm afraid. no way to change the attitude.

[huski]

Bangkok City Clerk Khunhing Natthanon Thaweesin said she would check the building's floor plans to verify whether it had been constructed within legal parameters and if occupiers were licensed to operate factories there.

there is more to this story than may be in the news. the owner twice busted for making knockoff copies of nike, adidas etc. items was using two of the floors of his building for this purpose. it was during lunch hour so many workers were not in the building at the time. the two babysitters and children upstairs were trapped because they were locked in upstairs, all four died.

While we were standing around I started chatting with an Englishman who had been close to the building when the fire started. He said that the fire had started in the ground floor car park and had spread upwards.

i think so, there were some expensive cars that exploded. the fire went up from there from what i saw. the amount of smoke was insane.

Although Chewit's criticism of the fire department's poorly maintained equipment seemed justified, I cannot fault their courage. Many of them were working right next to the fire. At about 2 or 2:30 a crane lifted a man wearing an orange jumpsuit, oxygen tank and regulator up to the 4th floor balcony and he stepped off and entered the burning building. At this time the first three floors were burning out of control and the rest of the building was engulfed in smoke. I didn't see him leave the building, but he must have been the one to locate the one child that they airlifted out.

the firemen worked hard and risked their lives to put out the fire. many stayed until midnight working under lights. luckily, because the house next door caught on fire around 11pm. but was quickly extinguished.

[dfwbkk]

Scary. Living in bkk above 3rd floor is no picnic...

[otherstuff1957]

Some additional rumours that my wife heard are that the factory was unlicensed and the workers were illegal aliens from Burma. Also the owner has not been paying tax or possibly insurance (my wife's English tends to fall apart on some of these technical details). Anyway the building's owner is a "high up" man and so I'm sure that he will get away scot free.

[PvtDick]

I know the owner of the building, and he is not a very nice man at all. Real mafia-type, thinks he can get away with anything. Continued manufacturing counterfeit clothing in his sweatshop, despite having been raided many times, and has been accused of collecting "protection money" from vendors throughout Pratunam district. Associates with some of the worst of the corrupt politicians.

It is terrible that there were deaths, but the destruction of his precious black Mercedes-Benz 500's and of his sweatshop are not going to keep me up at night.