Music pub fire kills at least 14 people, including band singer

On Friday, Thailand's prime minister ordered an investigation into a massive fire that struck a crowded music pub, killing at least 14 people. A stage containing a singer who was performing when a fire broke out nearby.

At around 1:00 am, a fire broke out at Mountain B nightspot in the Sattahip district of Chonburi province, about 90 miles southeast of Bangkok.

Video footage posted by the rescue service shows desperate revelers screaming and fleeing a club, their clothes ablaze, with a huge fire raging in the background. I'm here.

Chalit Chotisupakarn escaped with burns to his arms and torso as people struggled to escape. As he did so, he described a state of panic and despair. of the building.

"I couldn't see anything. Everything was dark. Everyone was yelling 'Get out! Get out!' We all had to flee," he told reporters.

"I just pushed and pushed. Some people were all on fire."

Sawang Rojanathammasathan Rescue Foundation said 14 people were killed and about 40 injured said he did.

Thanyapat Sornsuwanhiran, a waitress at the venue, told a Thai television reporter that he saw smoke near the stage.

"I yelled 'fire' to the customer. I was near the door, so I led the customer out. “I was helping to bring out the people,” she said.

The blaze was accelerated by combustible acoustic foam in the walls of the club, and it took her more than three hours to bring it under control, according to the

service.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said he had ordered an investigation into the fire, expressing condolences to the families of the victims.

The bodies were 4 women and 10 men, mostly crowded near the entrance and in the restrooms.

They ranged from he was 17 to he was 49 and are all believed to be Thai.

"There have been no deaths related to foreigners," Lieutenant Inspector Boon Sung In Yong of the Luang Police Station, who oversees the area where the fire broke out, told his AFP by phone.

One of his victims was a singer in a band that was playing at a club, his mother told local media.

"I don't know what to say. Death came suddenly," Premjai Seon told reporters.

She told her that a musician friend who had managed to escape had started a fire in front of the band and spread rapidly.

"The fire started in the upper right corner of the stage. A witness, identified only by Nana, told her PPTV. "The singer must have seen it too, so he yelled 'fire' and threw the microphone away."

Images of the aftermath show the fire turning the interior of the club into blackened wreckage, with the furniture falling apart. It showed charred metal frames strewn in the ash. I am inspecting the building because there is.

Home Minister Anupong Paochinda told reporters that Mountain B appeared to be operated "without permission" as an entertainment facility.

He said Sompong Chingduang, deputy chief of the Royal Thai Police, is under investigation for allegedly changing the venue from a restaurant to a nightclub without permission from the owner.

Concerns have long been raised about Thailand's lax approach to health and safety regulations, especially in the countless bars and nightclubs. Massive hell erupts at New Year's Eve party at Santika Club, killing 67 people and injuring more than 200.

Santika's owner was jailed for three years. Blaze started when fireworks were set off when a rock band called Burn played on stage.

In 2016, at least 17 girls died in a nighttime fire in a Christian primary school dormitory in northern Thailand . 

As recently as 2012, four people died in a fire caused by a short circuit in a club on the holiday island of Phuket, which attracts foreign tourists.

The Associated Press reported on this Contributed.