A fire's powerful backdraft can become a huge flame-thrower or industrial blast furnace, producing projectile flames which look like fire spewing from a gigantic dragon's mouth, similar to this illustration. Photo copyright by Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- A midnight fire burning with the intensity of a huge flame-thrower killed at least 27 people and injured 63 when a suspected electrical short-circuit ignited flamable soundproof foam and decorations on the ceiling and walls of a packed nightclub.
Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt rushed to the scene in the early hours of Monday (July 13) morning to inspect the charred wreckage from the midnight blaze.
The extreme intensity of the fire forced huge flames to gush in a sustained, billowing, horizontal stream through the nightclub's front door into the street, like a huge flame-thrower or industrial blast furnace, while people screamed and ran.
Some witnesses said the front door's projectile flames looked like fire spewing from a gigantic dragon's mouth.
"The fire spread very quickly, reaching up to the ceiling," Governor Chadchart told reporters.
"Smoke was likely the main cause of death."
Investigators were checking if a powerful backdraft forced the flames to pour horizontally through the open front door, fueled by natural gas cannisters in the crowded Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao venue's kitchen and small brewery.
Some survivors could be seen staggering through the furious firestorm into the neon-lit street with their clothes and hair ablaze.
Others lay on the sidewalk while police and rescue workers vigorously pumped each unconscious person's chest, trying to revive them, amid burnt shoes and other debris.
Firefighters piled charred handbags, purses, backpacks, and smart phones onto a nearby table.
The 27 dead were wrapped in plastic sheets secured with straps and laid out in front of the nightclub on the sidewalk in northeast Bangkok's Lat Phrao neighborhood.
They included 18 women and nine men, many of whom died from smoke inhalation, rescuers said.
The inferno erupted in the large club packed with mostly young Thai men and women enjoying live music, dancing, food, and drinks.
Survivors said many victims could not find their way out of the nightclub because of thick, toxic smoke and an emergency exit allegedly blocked by a display case selling snacks.
Investigators were trying to determine if the other emergency exit had been intentionally blocked with beer crates or locked because the club allegedly feared customers might sneak out without paying, forcing people to flee through the flame-filled front door as the only way out.
"The entry is one tiny door, then a corridor. Very claustrophobic," one person said after visiting the nightclub last week.
Panicked people fought to get through the front door, survivors said.
Some were trampled underfoot but were helped up and escaped.
Rescuers, lighting their way with flashlights in the dark, discovered most of the bodies in toilet stalls where victims vainly sought shelter near a blocked exit.
Rescuers said decorations and flammable, polyurethane foam soundproofing on the walls and low ceiling burst into flames, possibly as a result of sparks from an electrical short-circuit in a ceiling-mounted air-conditioner.
Investigators pointed to the nightclub's long, neat rows of tables and plastic stools laden with the ceiling's fallen, charred debris but otherwise intact, including blackened beer bottles still standing on the tables.
The fire's intense heat melted the tops of plastic ice buckets but left them in place, filled with water on the rows of tables.
Charred ceiling debris and burning droplets also covered the top of the drummer's cymbals and a partially burnt electric keyboard and electric guitar.
The performing Tosakan band's drummer, keyboardist, and female singer perished in the fire, the indie band said.
Investigators were inspecting whether or not the nightclub had emergency water sprinklers, fire extinguishers, and other safety measures.
Flames burnt the single-story nightclub's interior but did not damage the concrete building's exterior, plastic signs, leafy plants, and wooden doors, thanks to the nearby fire department's rapid response.
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Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based American foreign correspondent reporting from Asia since 1978, and winner of Columbia University's Foreign Correspondents' Award. Excerpts from his two new nonfiction books, "Rituals. Killers. Wars. & Sex. -- Tibet, India, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka & New York" and "Apocalyptic Tribes, Smugglers & Freaks" are available at https://asia-correspondent.tumblr.com