Blazing pub was 'a deathtrap'
Investigators slam lack of safety equipment
- Published: 6/01/2009 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
The Santika Club, which became a deadly inferno in the first hour of Jan 1, was a deathtrap due to hazardous materials inside and a lack of safety equipment, an engineering expert says.
Pitchaya Chantranuwat, head of the building safety sub-committee of the Engineering Institute of Thailand, made the assessment after inspecting the debris of Santika on Soi Ekamai yesterday with crime scene investigators and public works officials from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.Mr Pitchaya said the pub lacked basic equipment to deal with a fire, including emergency lamps, fire exit signs and sprinklers.
The three exits for its area of about 400 square metres were insufficient to deal with 400 guests, he said.
Had it had sufficient sprinklers, emergency lights and more prominent fire exit signs, revellers could have escaped and survived the fire, Mr Pitchaya said.
The main gate of the pub was 2.18 metres wide.
In case of fire, the door would be adequate for just 200 people to escape, he said.
Mr Pitchaya also said there were a large number of highly inflammable materials in the pub such as fibreglass, resin and plastic.
The pub's walls were lined with polystyrene.
When the material caught fire, it emitted toxic gases that caused victims to pass out, he added.
Vicharn Peawnim, a forensic doctor at Ramathibodi Hospital, said carbon monoxide, which was a toxic gas, was the main cause of deaths in the pub fire. The gas replaces oxygen in blood, so many victims died when their brains were deprived of oxygen, he said.
It would be easier to treat burnt skin than to treat people who inhaled toxic gases, the doctor said.
Arthi Krueawit, a surgeon at the same hospital, agreed toxic smoke was extremely dangerous.
In the first week after the blaze, the clogged alveoli of their contaminated lungs could swell up causing acute respiratory failure, he said.
Such victims should return to doctors and use respirators that will replace toxic substances in their lungs with oxygen, he suggested.
The Foundation for Consumers recommended a convenient way for victims of the Santika pub fire and their relatives to demand reasonable compensation.
Foundation secretary-general Saree Ongsomwang said under the Consumer Case Procedure Act effective last year, victims of the pub fire could be considered as consumers who had the right to demand reasonable compensation from the operators concerned.
She said the new act provides fast process of compensation demands and judges can raise compensation for victims and fine wrongdoers.
Representatives of White & Brothers, the company that operated Santika, received compensation requests from victims and their relatives at the Thong Lor police station yesterday.
According to Pongsak Poolcharoen, the company's lawyer, 31 shareholders of Santika raised two million baht from their own pockets to initially help victims.
The company will accept compensation demands until Friday. It received only about 50 demands yesterday, the lawyer said.
Among complainants, Thanakorn Duangsawat, 34, said the treatment in the first three days for his 25-year-old sister Anchitcha, whose body suffered 10 per cent burns, had cost as much as 240,000 baht.
She had been released from an intensive care unit (ICU) at Bangkok Hospital on Sunday and would be admitted until tomorrow. He expects the bill to reach 300,000 baht.
The death toll from the Santika pub fire reached 64 as Japanese victim Keiichi Wada died on Sunday night. Of the 68 injured, 35 remained in ICUs yesterday.
Police Forensic Science Department chief Pol Maj-Gen Danaithorn Wongthai said evidence had been gathered including video clippings from the mobile phones of visitors at the pub.
Police are still waiting to finalise witness accounts. So far more than 100 witnesses have spoken to police.
Thong Lor police station chief Pol Col Suthin Sapphuang said police wanted to interrogate Suriya Ritrabue, managing director of White & Brothers, but his whereabouts were unknown. Police issued a summons for Mr Suriya and 12 other pub executives to come forward for questioning tomorrow.
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- Writer: POST REPORTERS
