At least 27 people were killed and 63 others were injured by a massive fire at a pub in Bangkok, late Sunday night, according to BBC and Bangkok Post.

The tragedy began at 11.57pm on Sunday, when many customers were inside, then spread rapidly, cutting power and engulfing the room with smoke, eyewitnesses say.

Footage posted online show panicked customers screaming as they fled – some with their clothes on fire – through the flame-enveloped front door of Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao.

Firefighters, who arrived at the scene just after midnight, quickly extinguished the fire. They found the bodies of most of the victims in a bathroom, where they had apparently sought shelter.

The dead victims comprised nine men and 18 women. Of the 63 injured, 22 were in serious condition. The injured were taken to 16 hospitals.

Preliminary investigations by Bangkok's disaster mitigation department suggest the fire could have been caused by an electrical short circuit in an air conditioner, though no official cause has been given.

Authorities have promised a thorough investigation.

This is not the first time such an incident has occured in Thailand.

Despite official promises to improve fire and electrical safety standards following previous incidents, they are still often poorly enforced.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who visited the scene early on Monday, said a musician who was performing when the fire broke out told him "there was blasting and everybody tried to flee from the smoke and flames".

"We have recovered 27 bodies, others are being sent to hospital," said the Prime Minister.

Many people did not make it out of the bar because they "went to the back of the building and tried to hide themselves... in the toilet", the musician said, according to Anutin.

Firefighters, who were alerted to the blaze by a passing driver, were reportedly able to bring the flames under control in about half an hour.

This is not the first time Thailand has experienced such a tragedy.

In 2022, a fire broke out in a bar in a town south of Bangkok, killing 22 people.

On 1 January in 2009, 66 people died in a nightclub fire in the capital, which also injured more than 200 others while they were ringing in the new year.

In 2024, a fire started by an electrical short circuit in the famous open-air Chatuchak market killed 1,000 animals.

END/BBC/BANGKOK POST/ASA

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