Bangkok bar fire kills four members of house band; survivors seek answers

The Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar in northern Bangkok was the kind of place where the same band played every Sunday night. Totsakan was their name—a six-piece outfit that specialized in the kind of roots music that draws crowds in rural Thailand, traditional rhythms played on modern instruments, the sort of thing that makes people want to stay late and order another round. On Sunday night, four of those six musicians were still inside the bar when a spark from a circuit breaker ignited what would become a catastrophic fire. By the time firefighters brought it under control, at least 32 people were dead and more than 70 injured. Fifteen remained in critical condition.

The blaze moved with terrible speed across the ceiling, which investigators now suspect was covered in highly flammable soundproofing foam. The exits were few and narrow. The darkness was total. People who were there describe a chaos so complete that even hours after the flames were extinguished, no one could say with certainty who had made it out and who had not. Most of the dead succumbed to smoke inhalation rather than burns—they were overcome in the scramble toward exits that may not have been properly unlocked or accessible. Authorities are still investigating whether the venue was even legally registered.

For Atipat Wijan, the band's leader and singer, the reckoning came almost immediately. In an interview with Thai television just hours after the fire was put out, he described how the bass player had called him with news that Nahatai Sajjalert—the lead female singer, known as "Breeze," and his girlfriend—was receiving CPR in the parking lot behind the still-smoking building. He tried to help the emergency responders revive her. She could not be brought back. "She wasn't burned at all," he said later. "Her body was completely intact. She just looked like she was peacefully asleep."

The full scope of the band's loss emerged over the following hours and days. The keyboardist, Preutthipong Pudmon, never made it out of the bar. The drummer, Nattapat Thamnita, was evacuated in critical condition but died in hospital. A fourth member, the other male singer Thitiwat Kaewkanha, survived the initial fire but succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday—he had burns covering eighty percent of his body. Only the leader and one other core member survived.

On Wednesday, as families retrieved bodies from Bangkok's Institute of Forensic Science, Chanyanuch Pudmon, the sister of the dead keyboardist, spoke with a grace that cut through the surrounding anguish. "If I can be his representative, I think he would say he doesn't want to see everyone sad and cry," she said. "He would not want everyone to see him as he is now, but please remember his smile on stage, playing music that he loves."

Survivors and family members gathered at a police station that day to give testimony, retrieve belongings, and seek answers about compensation. Natthaphong Lakhorn, twenty-six, had been sitting near the stage when white smoke began pouring from it. He thought at first it was dry ice—a stage effect. Then the power cut out entirely. "When the fire broke, I just ran," he said. "It was so hectic." He escaped through a back door near the bathrooms, where a security guard with a flashlight was directing people out. Bandages covered both his ears and part of his forehead. He was planning to seek compensation for his injuries.

Kanticha Singkhon, twenty-five, came to the police station to collect her mother's handbag and other belongings. Her mother had died in the fire. Now Kanticha is responsible for her younger brother. She said she wanted the bar owners to reach out to the families themselves, because the victims came from far away and would soon be returning to their hometowns for funerals. A lawyer representing the bar owners announced that survivors and family members would initially receive ten thousand baht—roughly three hundred dollars. "It's not enough money for a funeral," Kanticha said. "I had to take a loan to arrange my mom's funeral. I have not had any financial arrangements, and no one has contacted me."

Investigators are still working to determine exactly what set the fire in motion and why it killed so many so quickly. The questions about the ceiling foam, the exits, the registration status of the venue—these remain open. What is certain is that four musicians who played good-time music every Sunday will not play again, and the families they left behind are searching for answers and resources that have not yet materialized.