Two women died from suffocation after a fire broke out and razed a printing shop in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district in the early hours of Saturday.
Fire trucks and crews and rescue workers were called to the blaze at Sor Wattanachang shop on Mahannop Road in Sao Chingcha area, said Pol Capt Anon Saiduang, deputy investigation chief at Samran Rat police station. The fire was reported about 3am.
Two three-storey buildings, which housed the shop providing book cover and book binding services, was filled with smoke. Firemen took about 20 minutes to bring the fire under control.
Two women were found dead on the third floor of the shop. They were identified as Saengsom Kotchakornkamut, 33, daughter of the printing shop, and Wararak wangsathitwong, 75, housekeeper.
The bodies were sent to a hospital for a post-mortem examination.
Police had yet to conclude the cause of the fire. They believed the two women might sleep on the second floor and tried to escape by going to the third floor. However, the windows were covered with iron bars, which blocked their escape and caused them to die from smoke suffocation.
Their lips and noses had black stains and their clothes and bodies were filled with soot, Thai media reported.