Sanitika Pub Inferno

[webfact]

SANTIKA PUB INFERNO

Carrying the scars of a dreadful pub tragedy

By Mayuree Sukyingcharoenwong

The Nation

Published on December 28, 2009

The New Year festivities only add to Kanchana Nakkwan's pain. Being confined to a sterile hospital room, she doesn't want to hear New Year and Christmas songs, see the decorative lights or hear people's plans for the countdown.

She wouldn't let us take her photo, well aware that her once pretty face is now too scarred to shine on any catwalk.

"No more spotlights for me. Life is now about medicines and operations only," Kanchana, or Ji Ji, said.

She has never left the hospital since she was rushed from the upscale Santika pub with 40-per-cent burns to her body on New Year's Day a year ago.

The fire damaged skin on her right hand, right arm, as well as the right part of her back and her face.

"My life has never been the same since. My face is not the same. I don't even want to meet friends who used to be presen-ters with me at glittering events. I threw away my old cell-phone number," the 27-year-old woman said.

Kept in a sterile room for nearly a year now, Ji Ji admit-ted she missed her old life a lot. "Life used to be fun. Jobs used to be so good. I used to be able to send a lot of money to my parents, but not anymore," she said.

Ji Ji is now seeking Bt8 million in compensation from the pub operator, having spent Bt1 million on medical bills and being informed that more surgery will be needed.

It wasn't a consolation that she's not facing the pain alone. Pirawat Chotecharoonphan, 35, bears scars of the Santika fire and the searing memory of his last moments with his girlfriend.

"It used to hurt so much that I wanted to die. Mom knew I was suicidal. So, she stayed at the hospital with me all the time," he said.

Pirawat is now suing the pub operator for Bt5 million in compensation.

"To many people, I might look like a monster," he said.

Pirawat sustained 28-per-cent burns during the inferno. His girlfriend fell down during the stampede out of the pub and was caught in the fire.

"It's so hard losing her that way," said the insurance sales-man, who no longer wished to go out and enjoy life. "I'm no longer the man I was, a funny, boisterous person. I have become an introvert," he said.

Pirawat has not received any real help from Santika Pub except Bt15,000 in initial assistance.

Meanwhile, Sommai Lhamjamnong is still grieving over her favourite granddaughter, 21-year-old Pornpimol or Som-O, who was among 66 people killed in the fire.

"Her charred body was unrecognisable," Sommai said. "When I first saw it, I crumbled. It pained me to think how much she had to suffer before she died."

Sommai had raised Som-O from kindergarten after her parents separated. She was everything to her, and ever since her death, Sommai has refused to watch and read news. She is seeking Bt2.5 mil-lion in compensation for Pornpimol's death. "Som-O was a nice, hardworking girl. She studied and worked part-time at a gift shop and gave me Bt2,000 every month."

-- The Nation 2009/12/28

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[yabaaaa]

Little or no interest, pitifully small amounts of compensation being sought. No one cares has anything REALLY changed?

[jamesjdaly]

I think the ad.....

Bupa Medical Insurance

Affordable Insurance for Expat

As Low As 10 Baht a day Apply Here!

www.Bupa.co.th

.....in this thread is in extremely poor taste. Is Thaivisa becoming too Thai ie money and profit always come first no matter who it hurts?

[animatic]

JD I believe the ads are auto placed 'dynamically' for new pages,

so the ads get even time by page viewing,

and not waiting for a particular page to be viewed.

So unless this ad is specifically blocked from this page It can't be NOT viewed periodically.

It is not on my page now, but might be next viewing.

I have a good sized burn scar on my arm, had it for 44 years now,

left my self image battered for a long time, hated playing shirts/skins team

sports or swimming etc. To have this on my face as a formerly beautiful young woman

would be devastating and 8 million is peanuts for having lost that and spent a year in a sterile room.

This whole incident has been a travesty of justice.

I had a friend who was hired to produce video of the party that night,

but fortunately he turned it down and wasn't there. He knew friends who were,

and was quite saddened by the whole thing, but even this 2 degrees of separation,

doesn't reduce the horror, nor the disgust at the lack of any justice forthcoming from

the Santika management and the paid off zoning officials who tacitly or actively

allowed the conditions for this horror to exist.

Edited December 28, 2009 by animatic

[caf]

JD I believe the ads are auto placed 'dynamically' for new pages,

so the ads get even time by page viewing,

and not waiting for a particular page to be viewed.

So unless this ad is specifically blocked from this page It can't be NOT viewed periodically.

It is not on my page now, but might be next viewing.

I have a good sized burn scar on my arm, had it for 44 years now,

left my self image battered for a long time, hated playing shirts/skins team

sports or swimming etc. To have this on my face as a formerly beautiful young woman

would be devastating and 8 million is peanuts for having lost that and spent a year in a sterile room.

This whole incident has been a travesty of justice.

I had a friend who was hired to produce video of the party that night,

but fortunately he turned it down and wasn't there. He knew friends who were,

and was quite saddened by the whole thing, but even this 2 degrees of separation,

doesn't reduce the horror, nor the disgust at the lack of any justice forthcoming from

the Santika management and the paid off zoning officials who tacitly or actively

allowed the conditions for this horror to exist.

I could not agree with you more, Animatic. As you say it is the people in control that are the problem. Like much else here, the monied elite are winning over the average Thai.

[mrtoad]

Totally shameful that those really responsible appear to have got away with this terrible incident.

[tb86]

terribly sad a former friend of mine is was a partner, unbelievable nothing has happened to them

[Oberkommando]

doesn't reduce the horror, nor the disgust at the lack of any justice forthcoming from

the Santika management and the paid off zoning officials who tacitly or actively

allowed the conditions for this horror to exist.

Don't forget the current government which has done absolutely nothing as a result of this terrible tragedy.

[bkkjames]

doesn't reduce the horror, nor the disgust at the lack of any justice forthcoming from

the Santika management and the paid off zoning officials who tacitly or actively

allowed the conditions for this horror to exist.

Don't forget the current government which has done absolutely nothing as a result of this terrible tragedy.

Mate if you are gonna start blaming politicians at least take the time to blame the right one's. Last time I checked this was / is a BMA matter.

[needforspeed]

doesn't reduce the horror, nor the disgust at the lack of any justice forthcoming from

the Santika management and the paid off zoning officials who tacitly or actively

allowed the conditions for this horror to exist.

Don't forget the current government which has done absolutely nothing as a result of this terrible tragedy.

Mate if you are gonna start blaming politicians at least take the time to blame the right one's. Last time I checked this was / is a BMA matter.

The right ones are the goverment at this moment, if the previous goverment did something wrong they need to be brought to justice by this goverment.

But as so many times they all keep silence, silence as the woman in OP story.

Shame to all responsible for this, shame to this and previous goverment.

[bkkjames]

doesn't reduce the horror, nor the disgust at the lack of any justice forthcoming from

the Santika management and the paid off zoning officials who tacitly or actively

allowed the conditions for this horror to exist.

Don't forget the current government which has done absolutely nothing as a result of this terrible tragedy.

Mate if you are gonna start blaming politicians at least take the time to blame the right one's. Last time I checked this was / is a BMA matter.

The right ones are the goverment at this moment, if the previous goverment did something wrong they need to be brought to justice by this goverment.

But as so many times they all keep silence, silence as the woman in OP story.

Shame to all responsible for this, shame to this and previous goverment.

Then shame the BMA. This is a local Bangkok issue mate.

[caf]

doesn't reduce the horror, nor the disgust at the lack of any justice forthcoming from

the Santika management and the paid off zoning officials who tacitly or actively

allowed the conditions for this horror to exist.

Don't forget the current government which has done absolutely nothing as a result of this terrible tragedy.

Mate if you are gonna start blaming politicians at least take the time to blame the right one's. Last time I checked this was / is a BMA matter.

Ultimate responsibilty is with Abhisit. "The buck stops here"

[TAWP]

The red fans just cannot help themselves, can they?

[animatic]

The red fans just cannot help themselves, can they?

Ditto.

BMA is where this buck stops, along with police and courts.

There's a country to run, not deal with fallout from every tragedy

in every city, even the biggest one.

Zoning and enforcement is a BMA issue.

Getting compensation is a courts issue.

Regardless something MUST be done about this.

Neither Somchai nor Abhisit, as the book end PM's in this time frame,

are the correct ones to be held accountable in this instance.

No matter reddened desires.

The legislative branch should have quickly moved forward to strengthen laws,

and police should have put the hammer down on this Colonel who leveraged himself

into ownership to let others know there can be consequences.

[EyesWideOpen]

This fire makes me sick to my stomach. I have lived here ten years, and I see time and time again that Thais in power, either governmental or the wealthy are rarely punished for anything. It is no wonder that this kind of shit happens time and time again. Why wouldn't it, since there is no punishment that occurs. If they took all the principals involved in this tragedy, including the government officials that were in it up to their necks, stripped them of their wealth to help pay for the lives they have destroyed , then threw them all in jail for 40 years, you can bet the other pub owners would pay very close attention.

The Santika fire is in fact a repeat of the Route 66 nightclub fire that occured in Pattaya a couple of years ago. To the best of my knowledge no one was punished over that fire as well, which killed several employees. So I guess we can simply wait for the next nightclub fire to happen.

Edited December 28, 2009 by rhiekel

[caf]

The red fans just cannot help themselves, can they?

A bit pedantic, but I will rephrase my comment and repalce abhisit with prime minister

The buck stops with the prime minister, as in any country ( usa the president, from which the original: "the buck stops here" came.

As I have posted before and you are aware . I am not a Taksin supporter.

[caf]

The red fans just cannot help themselves, can they?

Ditto.

BMA is where this buck stops, along with police and courts.

There's a country to run, not deal with fallout from every tragedy

in every city, even the biggest one.

Zoning and enforcement is a BMA issue.

Getting compensation is a courts issue.

Regardless something MUST be done about this.

Neither Somchai nor Abhisit, as the book end PM's in this time frame,

are the correct ones to be held accountable in this instance.

No matter reddened desires.

The legislative branch should have quickly moved forward to strengthen laws,

and police should have put the hammer down on this Colonel who leveraged himself

into ownership to let others know there can be consequences.

I repeat my response to tawp' The buck stops with the prime minister, as in any country ( usa the president, from which the original: "the buck stops here" came.

"There's a country to run, not deal with fallout from every tragedy " What a callous remark. Neither Brown nor Obama would accept that and neither do I.

This is nothing to do with the Reds

You say the police should have put the hammer down. If they did not is it not the pm's role to intervene?

"Regardless something MUST be done about this." I agree with you totally and by putting MUST in capitals I would hope that you accept that the person who, when all else fails, MUST do something is the pm. Is it not his role to intervene?

The legislature is independent of the government but pm "intervention or suggestive advice" is not actually unknown.

[animatic]

Neither Brown nor Obama, hands on, would do much more than make the public statements

at the time similar to Abhisit's, and put it on an agenda to be followed up on by assistants.

They deal with the suggestive advice you mention.

And heads of state move on to the events that effect millions of people,

and not a 100 victims and their 1,000 families and friends.

This does not make them heartless or callous, it's partly called delegation of responsibility,

and partly necessary real world practicality. It's not callous, it's the only way a national leader can function;

deal with the forest fires rolling towards cities, and not the single kid lighting up one tree in his back yard.

The comment well above had a red component in it and that's why the counter comment.

The laundry list of things we wish ALL national leaders had the time to make happen is

enough to paper every house in Bangkok twice. Sadly the world doesn't work that way east west or Thailand.

Edited December 28, 2009 by animatic

[Briggsy]

Wow, a little bit of proactive reporting from the Nation. Keep it up.

[caf]

Neither Brown nor Obama, hands on, would do much more than make the public statements

at the time similar to Abhisit's, and put it on an agenda to be followed up on by assistants.

They deal with the suggestive advice you mention.

And heads of state move on to the events that effect millions of people,

and not a 100 victims and their 1,000 families and friends.

This does not make them heartless or callous, it's partly called delegation of responsibility,

and partly necessary real world practicality. It's not callous, it's the only way a national leader can function;

deal with the forest fires rolling towards cities, and not the single kid lighting up one tree in his back yard.

The comment well above had a red component in it and that's why the counter comment.

The laundry list of things we wish ALL national leaders had the time to make happen is

enough to paper every house in Bangkok twice. Sadly the world doesn't work that way east west or Thailand.

Then I think we must agree to disagree.

I can not comment in detail about Obama's actions but Brown has intervened very directly and persoanally in many situations similar to Sanitika, certainly more than " making public statements".

Having worked in UK government, I can assure you that when a pm gets involved, in say a flood in a town caused by inaction by a local authority, he is kept fully informed and consulted all along the way. Very much hands on. I understand about delegation and the use of assistants and am not suggesting he does all the detail work himself. But once involved he takes responsibilty if the situation is not fixed. If it happens on his watch and he gets involved he sticks with it. As an American president said "The buck stops here"

So, Ok we disagree but your comment

"it's the only way a national leader can function; deal with the forest fires rolling towards cities, and not the single kid lighting up one tree in his back yard."

would not apply in the uk where it would be seen as callous.

Sanitika and the underlying problems assocaited with it can hardly be likened to "a single kid lighting up one tree". I do not think you choose a good example there.

[bkkjames]

Published in the Nation today..

Let's start 2010 safely!

By Manta Klangboonkrong

The Nation

Published on December 29, 2009

For New Year's Eve on the town this year you'll need both eyes open and a head full of common sense

The boisterous fun of New Year's Eve shouldn't be hampered by worries about personal safety, but 2009 began in grief after 66 revellers were killed and another 222 injured in the fire at the Santika pub.

Caution is clearly the best safeguard against a recurrence of the tragedy.

"Most clubs and bars in Bangkok ignore safety precautions and fail to install the proper equipment," says Anan Kayapan of Huai Kwang District Office.

"People who run clubs are always prepared to control fights, but not fires. They have bouncers with lots of muscles, but not enough know-how to save lives if disaster strikes."

Ideally, Anan says, a club should have one emergency exit for every 100 square metres, and fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and hammers for breaking glass - all handy and in good condition.

And they should have fire escapes and conduct evacuation drills at least once a year.

"Every club should have its own escape and evacuation plan - posters on the walls, signs and specific training for their staff. Every building is designed differently.

"Keep the plan and print it out," he advises club managers. "It's a great help for firefighters when they arrive."

It's not easy for the average club patron to tell if a venue is adequately prepared for a fire, but simply trusting the management is not enough.

Keep in mind that low-rise buildings are safer in the event of a fire. Put your preference in single- or two-storey clubs and those that have wide windows that can facilitate emergency escapes.

Avoid bars high up in tall buildings, bars in back alleys with limited access and bars with no emergency exits - they're all potential death traps.

And, if the club looks overcrowded, go elsewhere. If there's a fire, the panic can easily trigger a deadly stampede.

Once you're inside a venue, check where the emergency exits are and whether the doors can be opened - you need to know which direction to take from anywhere in the club.

A fire will almost certainly knock out the lights, and the smoke will disorient you even as it's choking you. It's crucial to know where you are.

Think about the way you dress, too. Flowing clothes, impractical shoes and oversized bags will slow you down if you have to make a desperate escape.

Drink moderately - keep a clear head. You can't move properly or keep your balance when you're loaded.

Ladies, don't linger in the restroom - you may be the last to know that the club's on fire.

When the alarm goes off, stay calm. If there's a stampede, go with the flow but try and keep to the edge of the crowd, keeping an eye out for alternate exits, such as a rear door or a window you can break with a chair.

If you're knocked down, get up again as quickly as possible and keep going. Don't push - the last thing you want to do is knock down the people in front of you

because you'll just fall on them.

If you can't get back

on your feet, try to crawl in the direction the crowd's moving, drifting toward the outer edge where there are fewer people.

Get out of the building as soon as you can and move well away. Don't linger at the door and don't try to get back inside.

Finally, another note of preparation: Let people know where you plan to be - tell a few different people who aren't going with you.

[TAWP]

caf>> If you think the president/Prime Minister of a nation should always be the responsible one for whatever goes on in the nation, then you have a warped sense of justice. or you are being facetiously selective. I mean, what you say is that Thaksin is responsible for all the death in the south, especially the 78 from being stacked in trucks, or all victims of justice miscarriages; all 2500 killed during the judicial killings, the mafia-police etc, correct?

Edited December 29, 2009 by TAWP

[Oberkommando]

The Ministry of Justice was investigating the Santika tragedy so certainly not a BMA issue.

This was investigated at government level.

Don't forget PM Abhisit personally visited the club during the aftermath also.

Minister of Justice Pirapan Salirathavibhaga said it was normal practice in any crime for the police to handle it, even if they are implicated.

They have to be willing to expose any of their own officers connected to the crime, he said.

But officials inside the ministry have told the BBC that privately Mr Pirapan is furious that the police have regained control of the investigation and that he wants it handed back to the DSI, Thailand's equivalent of the FBI, which comes directly under his authority.

At the time of writing, that has still not happened.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7981841.stm

Edited December 29, 2009 by Oberkommando

[caf]

caf>> If you think the president/Prime Minister of a nation should always be the responsible one for whatever goes on in the nation, then you have a warped sense of justice. or you are being facetiously selective. I mean, what you say is that Thaksin is responsible for all the death in the south, especially the 78 from being stacked in trucks, or all victims of justice miscarriages; all 2500 killed during the judicial killings, the mafia-police etc, correct?

I neither have a warped sense of justice nor am I being selective.

Read my post and debate the points I raise. The santika affair is not a small local matter. Abhisit got involved initially and the matter is much wider, involving alleged corruption. Abhisit is on record that he wants to deal with corruption. And doing that may be a step in uniting the country. A desire echoed by His Majesty and Prem.

Here is his opportunity.

( I did not say Thaksin was responsible for Southern deaths. Please stick to what I did say and stay on topic. Your alternative agenda is of no interest in this thread and repeating it is boring )