BANGKOK — A fire at a high-end Bangkok nightclub killed at least 59 people and injured more than 200 shortly after midnight on Thursday as revelers were celebrating the new year, the police said.
Nightclub workers said fireworks had been set off around the midnight countdown, but the cause of the fire was not yet confirmed, said Lt. Sutin Pongkhamphan, the police officer in charge of the case.
He said that 54 people died at the scene at the popular club, the Santika, and that 5 more died at hospitals. An additional 212 people were injured, including 21 with severe injuries.
Bodies were laid out in white sheets on the street in front of the blackened nightclub, as sirens sounded throughout the night in the crowded streets of central Bangkok.
“We were all dancing, and suddenly there was a big flame that came out of the front of the stage and everybody was running away,” Oh Benjamas, a partygoer, told Reuters. “People started running for the doors and breaking the windows.”
Most of the deaths and injuries were caused by a stampede in the three-story club, which has one main exit and was packed with about 1,000 people, Lieutenant Sutin said. Other deaths came from burns and smoke inhalation.
“The fire spread very quickly because there was a lot of fuel in the club, like alcohol, foam and balloons,” he said.
Gen. Jongrak Jutanont of the police told The Associated Press that the injured included citizens of Australia, Nepal, Japan and the Netherlands. There was no immediate confirmation that any foreigners had died.
One employee said the fire started on the top floor and spread quickly, sending smoke through the building and causing panic, the Web site of The Nation, a daily newspaper, said.
The Santika, in the Ekamai district, is popular with the local Thai and foreign jet set.
“It attracts an affluent Thai student crowd, with Euro models and Westerners also popping in,” according to one Thai entertainment Web site.
Janesara Fugal contributed reporting.
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