27 killed in fire: How a Bangkok pub turned into a death trap in minutes

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27 killed in fire: How a Bangkok pub turned into a death trap in minutes

The fire tore through the crowded pub in Bangkok's Chatuchak district shortly before midnight Sunday.

4 min readJul 13, 2026 02:04 PM IST

First published on: Jul 13, 2026 at 02:04 PM IST

Relatives of fire victims arrive at the Institute of Forensic Police hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo: AP)

Singer Sukanya Wongwongwai was performing at an event when she heard news of a fire at a nearby nightclub in Bangkok. She rushed to the spot, knowing several of her bandmates were on stage that night at the Na Ladprao pub. One of them was among the 27 killed in the blaze. Three were hospitalised. One was still missing.

“From what I heard from people who were inside, when the fire started, everything went dark. The power was out, and there was smoke everywhere, so they couldn’t locate other people,” she said in an account that captures how quickly a night of music turned into one of Thailand’s deadliest venue disasters in years.

How the fire started

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said a musician performing at the pub told him he saw smoke rising from a circuit breaker near the stage moments before the power went out. This was followed by a deafening explosion that sent thick smoke pouring through the venue almost instantly.

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said investigators were examining the pub’s ceiling materials and whether emergency exits were obstructed, either of which could have made escape harder once the smoke spread.

What happened at the scene

The fire tore through the crowded pub in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district shortly before midnight Sunday. Footage shared by first responders showed flames and thick black smoke billowing from the front door as people fled into the street. Firefighters took roughly half an hour to bring the blaze under control.

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By Monday morning, the site had been cordoned off as forensic officers combed through the wreckage; the pub’s street-facing windows had been blown out, scattering charred televisions, speakers, and an electric guitar across the pavement, while burnt tables still holding empty bottles remained visible through the shattered glass.

Why was the death toll so high

Officials said many victims were found in restrooms at the back of the pub, apparently trapped while trying to escape the smoke in the dark after the power failed.

Authorities said 63 people were taken to the hospital, 22 of them in critical condition, and that identifying victims has been difficult because many were unconscious or not carrying identification.

At least 29 people were killed and many others injured after a fire tore through a restaurant in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district, Thailand. pic.twitter.com/jDLhEyfLYE

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 12, 2026

A registration point was set up at the scene for relatives searching for missing loved ones. Monks visited to pray for the dead, while nurses handed out face masks to nearby residents to guard against lingering fumes.

This is not the country’s first mass-casualty venue fire. A 2022 blaze at a music bar in eastern Thailand killed 14 people. In one of the deadliest such disasters in Thai history, a New Year’s Eve fire at Bangkok’s Santika nightclub, reportedly sparked by an indoor fireworks display, killed 66 people and injured more than 200 in 2009.

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Authorities have not yet confirmed the fire’s official cause, though the account of a circuit breaker fault points towards an electrical origin. The investigation is expected to focus on whether building materials, blocked exits, or safety oversight failures contributed to the scale of casualties.

(With inputs from Associated Press and Reuters)

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