Fire damages three stories of SCB head office, fire fighter killed

[poweratradio]

Thai Visa posters have sunk to new lows with these stupid responses. How could any of you know what happened ? And why.

SCB chief executive officer Vichit Surapongchai said the 10th floor was used to store copying machines not documents or computers. He said that the bank would open to work as usual on Monday.

[mango66]

Oh dear, i wonder how many files relevant to a current major investigation were lost ?

this files are all backed up !!

Ups !! just not in this case and this floor !!

Mr. Prayouth - you were too late :-((

[Thai at Heart]

Oh dear, i wonder how many files relevant to a current major investigation were lost ?

Its something when head office spontaneously combust to hide wrong doing. I think I will close my account there.

Looking at the board of kmitl its not as though these organisation weren't very well connected. God knows what the truth really is

Where did the "spontaneous combustion to hide wrong doing" come from, some official source?

Have u been following King Mongkut story?

[ToddinChonburi]

This man was a volunteer , something went terribly wrong. Hopefully this calls for some big improvements in how Thailand fights fires.

R.I.P

[firefox999uk]

These firefighters deserve better equipments to do their work. Increase their budget to buy the supplies, not the lousy fire trucks bought by the previous Bangkok governor.

Its better training that they need,

do they have Breathing Apparatus entry control ( BAECO)

with emergency crews standing by,

do they have communications equipment,

or is it a case of make do and mend.

My sincere condolences to the the firefighters family.

[Lite Beer]

SCB Park building closed temporarily pending building inspection

BANGKOK: -- The Chatuchak district office has ordered the SCB Park building closed temporarily pending investigation into the fire at the building and building inspection to ensure safety.

Mr Yodkwan Junnapiya, assistant district officer of Chatuchak, said today that the building would be allowed to reopen only after inspectors have checked the building structure and issued a clearance for the use of the building.

-- Thai PBS 2015-02-08

Accompanied by representatives of Siam Commerce Bank, police from Crime Suppression Division, scientific crime detection division and Pahonyothin police station as well as officials from town and city planning office inspected the 10th floor of the building which caught fire early this morning.

One volunteer who helped fight the fire was killed at the building which is the head office of Siam Commercial Bank.

Siam Commerce Bank is caught at the centre of a controversy after it was accused by management of King Mongkut Institute of Technology Lad Krabang of incooperative to supply necessary documents to the management which could help expose the embezzlement in the institute.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/scb-park-building-closed-temporarily-pending-building-inspection

[FangFerang]

SCB was the bank in the more than one billion baht University scandal, where funds were funded and stolen with the help of SCB officers. They refused this weeek to provide documents to the police or university and now...oops, sorry, the records you needed were destroyed, as well as all back up copies and hard copy. Really, an entire floor of a high rise dedicated exclusively to...copy machines? Really?

Sorry. (Insert innocent blue diamond redbull heir giggle here).

So much for fighting corruption. High level players were involved, and the current government did NOT go after the records aggressively.

Selective enforcement seems to be the watchword for fighting corruption altogether.

Edited February 8, 2015 by FangFerang

[Maestro]

Removed an abusive post and the replies to it.

[Basil B]

Fire fighting officials said about ten fire fighters of the first groups passed out because their oxygen tanks ran out

Outstandingly stupid.

Well, first off they are COMPRESSED AIR tanks. Next, try one on and walk up three flights of stairs carrying 60 lbs of firefighting equipment and see how well you do. The sets should have low air warnings on them so you can retreat, but how far you can make it is anyones guess. Lastly, unless you are a professional firefighter (I am) don't second guess those who try. RIP

You beat me to it...

Compressed air, apart from filtering nothing more...

If they were using conventional breathing apparatus using 100% Oxygen it would be like throwing a bucket of petrol on the fire every time they exhaled.

[poohy]

Looks like someone was smoking one of those satanic Shisha's up there!

Ah well Thainess again Never mind ban them, and let criminals destroy documents, once again people with money and contacts will walk free!

[webfact]

Bank HQ shut down by blaze
Sucheera Pinijparakarn,
Kornkamol Aksorndej
The Nation



SCB says big fIre not related to KMITL scandal documents, which were already filed elsewhere

BANGKOK: -- THE WHOLE main building of Siam Commercial Bank headquarters is now closed to the public in the wake of a fire that raged through some of its floors from late Saturday night to early yesterday morning.

An investigation is now ongoing to determine how the fire first erupted on the 10th floor of the 34-story building.

A fire-fighter was killed.

SCB has not yet estimated the damage bill for the fire, which ended up affecting three floors.

However, it insisted that the fire did not damage documents for an ongoing probe into the alleged embezzlement of Bt1.5 billion from the King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang's (KMITL) SCB accounts.

Vichit Suraphongchai, chairman of the SCB executive committee, told a press conference yesterday that the damaged documents were not related to the KMITL case.

"Documents on the 10th floor are just mortgage-loan approval documents that were to be scanned to create electronic files," he said, "These documents were not of crucial importance".

As soon as the fire became news on Saturday night, speculation mounted that someone may have deliberately lit the fire to destroy key evidence.

Last Friday, KMITL publicly complained that SCB had to date failed to provide crucial documents for the embezzlement probe.

SCB senior executive vice president Arthid Nanthawithaya yesterday explained that SCB had already submitted all documents sought by police.

Crime Suppression Division acting chief Pol Colonel Akradej Pimonsri said police had received most documents from SCB.

"We are in the process of having the Office of Forensic Science verify signatures on these documents," he said.

Arthid urged people to avoid spreading false rumours, pointing out that the investigation into the alleged embezzlement is not yet concluded and no one is found guilty yet.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lt General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul yesterday said police would quickly look into whether there had been any connection between the KMITL case and the fire.

"At this point, police have already questioned 30 witnesses in the fire case." He added that police would summon four insecticide-spraying staffers who entered SCB headquarters at 8pm on Saturday.

"We will also check recordings from security cameras," he said.

Chatuchak District Office acting director Yodkwan Junnapiya said the whole 10th floor of the building was damaged but the damage on the 9th and 11th floor was minor.

He said the main building of the headquarters was now sealed pending an inspection by engineering experts.

"In addition, we have to take into account whether the reopening of the building will affect the gathering of evidence at the scene," he said.

SCB executives said the building closure would affect its services including it not being able to provide private banking and safety deposit box services today. Arthid said SCB would do its best to reduce the fire's impact on customers. Departments at SCB headquarters would be moved to the bank's Bang Khen branch and Chang Wattana branches in accordance with the lender's business continuity plan.

SCB has set up a contact centre at SCB Park Plaza for customers who need to contact its headquarters. It also set up a hot line: 02-777-6600.

Arthid said SCB has reported the matter to the regulator, the Bank of Thailand, and will report it to the Stock Exchange of Thailand this morning.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Bank-HQ-shut-down-by-blaze-30253659.html


-- The Nation 2015-02-09

[siampolee]

One wonders whether certain and organisations people were in a panic and trying to conceal or distort a trail of transactions

However unknown to them the records they were seeking were either removed to another storage facility for ''safe keeping'' or that possibly they actually had the wrong information concerning their task.

Certainly seem to be an amazing coincidence that a fire should break out at the weekend late at night on 3 high floor levels in what one would consider to be a high security area when attending staff numbers were probably low if in fact the area was staffed.

http://online.thatsmags.com/uploads/content/1311/970/750px-gas-masks-1.jpg

Edited February 8, 2015 by siampolee

[harada]

I smell fish.

[siampolee]

harada post # 43

I smell fish

You sure it's fish ?

Edited February 8, 2015 by siampolee

[canopus1969]

I smell fish.

Better wash your fingers

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Odd....or maybe not for Thailand.

Through all these various news reports posted above, not one mention of anything about this high-rise building having or not having a fire sprinklers system.

You'd think that would kind of be an important detail in this kind of an episode..... You'd think....

[recycler]

I wish our mortgage was also on those floors ;-)

I'm a regular visitor to the other tower in SCB Plaza where Chevron is located. There security is serious for a building in Thailand including bag control, but it will not be too difficult to get in an elevator avoiding the check.

Compared to for example Jakarta, Bangkok is very loose when it comes to security at buildings. I guess we are lucky not to be a target.