Fire At Santika Night Club

[onethailand]

Santika Club at Ekamai was on fire during the New Year celebration - early reports have at least 50 injured, and up to 50 dead.

I could see the flames from my window - needless to say they were fierce.

More as I hear of it.

[dave9988]

how is this not in the english media? jesus they take teh night off?

[onethailand]

how is this not in the english media? jesus they take teh night off?

Too early. Even the Thai channels are only just getting wind of it.

[onethailand]

52 dead now.

[DP25]

%$&* I know people that frequent that club, and have been there a few times myself. I hope they didn't go there tonight.

[DP25]

Man, the pictures on TV are horrible. How did this fire start?

[Ijustwannateach]

BBC reporting on it now.

[MKAsok]

how is this not in the english media? jesus they take teh night off?

Must be in the English media. My phone's been spewing worried SMSs for the last 15 minutes. Bad scene. Really.

[Ijustwannateach]

Man, the pictures on TV are horrible. How did this fire start?

According to reports from the scene, fireworks on stage. Many of the dead apparently trapped in the bathroom with no back exits.

[Goshawk]

BBC now says 53 dead... 100 injured...

[Goshawk]

Sky news say 53 dead.. 100+ injured same..

says cause "due to electrical fault"

[dave9988]

how is this not in the english media? jesus they take teh night off?

Must be in the English media. My phone's been spewing worried SMSs for the last 15 minutes. Bad scene. Really.

i live near thong lo and we were hearing sirens like mad since atleast an hour ago. news like this should take somewhere between 3-5 minutes to have online.

[onethailand]

53 bodies on site, 2 dead in hospital.

Injury count is still speculative.

[Goshawk]

from youtube...

"Fire/Explosion at Bangkok's most famous nightclub, Zanthika on New Year's Eve. Live, raw and uncut footage from the location 10 minutes into the event!"

NOTE: Shows some very disturbing scenes.

[Goshawk]

From the BBC News website...

"At least 53 people have been killed in a fire in a nightclub in the Thai capital, Bangkok, police said, quoted by Reuters news agency.

More than 100 others were injured in the blaze, which broke out as people took part in New Year's Eve celebrations, the agency reports.

A Thai police official told Reuters the cause had not yet been determined.

A witness told the BBC that he had seen a number of bodies being carried away from the club, named as the Santika.

The witness, Andrew Jones, said survivors leaving the club told him the fire broke out on the stage after fireworks were lit just after midnight.

He said the club was popular with foreigners and locals alike.

The club had only one main exit, at the front, and many people had been trapped inside, he said. "

link to page here

[DP25]

Some very disturbing scenes indeed, but I'm glad I saw it none the less. This is simply awful.

[Goshawk]

I'm guessing most members are either asleep (in Thailand) or revelling elsewhere in the world..

just watch this thread grow & grow very shortly..

a very sad day..

RIP

[lordsux]

Very bad news to start the new year..... the organizers and those responsible for security should be charged with manslaughter.

Deepest condolences to all effected by this tragic event

[Goshawk]

Sky News now reporting at least 54 dead

[TAWP]

Front-page news in my homecountries (online)papers (how I saw it), but nothing in local ones.

[onethailand]

rows of bodies being shown on TNN.

Official count at present remains 53 on site, 2 in hospitals.

Injury count still speculative - local reports say at least 50 and have done so for the last two hours. Wonder where Reuters/BBC/Sky got their numbers from.

Eerily, the sign at the front of the club said "Goodbye Santika 2009" - I thought it was some mistake, but it turns out that the club was indeed being closed down as the owners elected not to renew the lease, and this was the last night.

[endure]

The Times of London

[WAERTH]

I was at Woodstock tonight at the rooftop bar and we saw the smoke and then heard the sirens. It kinda depressed the party ...

I know some people who work there. Will check tomorrow if they are alright.

[Africanteacher]

As much as this is just some bad luck, I know I made a good decision to stay in tonight.

Sad news here.

Sorry y'all!

[Rinrada]

Police said they were investigating what sparked the fire in the two-storey building, an upmarket nightclub.

"We were all dancing and suddenly there was a big flame that came out of the front of the stage and everybody was running away," one woman told Reuters news agency.

One man told the BBC that survivors leaving the club told him the fire broke out on the stage after fireworks were lit just after midnight.

SO SAD

[JetsetBkk]

Main story on BBC news. Jonathan Head reported "safety procedures are largely ignored" and clubs make "payoffs to police for protection".

RIP all those poor souls.

[Goshawk]

BBC now reporting 58 dead

[Goshawk]

Link to Associated Press news release..

(with some unpleasent photo's)

[Hawkup2000]

I am ok, but how about the other members who left early from the Thaivaisa party? Please post and confirm that you are ok.

[Jimjim]

Saw it on yahoo news. Checked Bangkok Post and the Nation websites and I guess their staff is still partying. Nothing there yet.

Shocked but not shocked. If something like this can happen in the U.S. like it did a few years back in Rhode Island, it can happen in Bangkok where clubs often pack beyond capacity.

I know this club well, never been there during opening hours, but spent six hours inside shooting an Indian commercial there a couple of years ago. I know it's a popular club on Ekkamai road, and my ex-girlfriend liked to go there and it was the favorite of some of her friends and others I knew. Tata Young liked to have concerts there sometimes.

Very sad tragedy for New Year's. I always wondered if the huge fireworks at midnight on New Year's Day last year I saw from the top of a big apartment building near Ekkamai were coming from Santika. Evidently every year you see big fireworks from some club on Ekkamai. Maybe not Santika, but that would explain this bad accident. Horrible, just horrible.