BANGKOK — Authorities said Monday that many of the victims of a devastating fire at a Bangkok music bar were discovered in windowless restrooms, where they appear to have become trapped after trying to flee the flames. The blaze killed at least 27 people and prompted the start of a formal investigation.
The fire at Rong Beer Na Ladprao was the deadliest the Thai capital has seen in 17 years. It erupted late Sunday in northern Bangkok, taking firefighters about 30 minutes to get under control. City officials said 25 injured people remained hospitalized in critical condition.
Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said smoke inhalation was believed to have caused most of the fatalities.
By Monday morning, authorities had sealed off the scene while dozens of forensic specialists searched for evidence that could explain how the fire started. The bar’s front windows facing the street had been blown out, and the pavement outside was strewn with charred wreckage, including television sets, speakers and an electric guitar. Associated Press journalists peering through the broken windows saw empty beer bottles still resting on tables blackened by the fire.
The venue, which describes itself in Thai as a brewery or beer hall, said it could hold up to 600 patrons. Officials had not confirmed how many people were inside on Sunday night.
Bangkok’s Erawan emergency services center reported 73 injuries. The city government put the death toll at 28, one higher than the figure provided by Erawan.
The dead were trapped in bathrooms
National Police Chief Kittharath Punpetch said most of those who died were found inside windowless bathrooms near one of the rear exits, suggesting they may have gone there in an attempt to escape the fire.
Kittharath said that exit was apparently not used. He said people may have been prevented from reaching it by a table set up in the hallway to sell candy, or they may have been unable to find the route out because the area was too dark.
Access to another exit near the kitchen might also have been narrowed by shelving units and lockers, said Kittharath, who visited the scene Monday. There were signs that at least some of the exit doors might have been locked, he added.
Investigators focused on the ceiling above a performance stage, where they found materials that may have been used as decorative elements, he said. Police will examine whether flammable materials were used in the interior and how electrical wiring was installed across the ceiling.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters that a musician who was performing at the bar told him he saw smoke coming out of a circuit breaker near the stage before the power went out. Then an explosion was heard, and thick smoke quickly filled the place.
Video posted on social media showed people fleeing as flames shot out of the single-story building and black smoke billowed into the sky.
Buddhist monks prayed for the dead
Several Buddhist monks visited the site Monday to pray for the victims, while nurses handed out face masks to help protect people from lingering smoke and fumes from the building.
A registration site was set up to gather information from relatives looking for loved ones.
Singer Sukanya Wongwongwai said she was performing nearby when she heard about the fire and rushed to the scene because several of her bandmates were performing at the bar. She said one of them died, three were hospitalized and one had not been located. Her band later announced on Facebook that the missing member was also found hospitalized.
“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 a statement posted on Facebook, the bar offered apologies and condolences and said it was cooperating with investigators. It said the bar’s owner suffered serious injuries and was in an intensive care unit.
Mourning family members identify the dead at a morgue
Family members gathered at Bangkok’s Institute of Forensic Medicine to identify the dead.
Keo Oudone Poungpany, 24, was at the institute to identify his younger brother’s body. Both of the brothers, migrant workers from neighboring Laos, were working as bar employees when the fire broke out.
Poungpany said he was using a restroom outside the bar when the fire began.
He described walking back toward the bar and encountering dozens of people running away from the flames and hearing loud noises.
From the outside the bar, he began shouting for his brother. “The heat was unbearable, I couldn’t get back in,” he said.
“For now, I want to bring my younger brother’s body back home,” Poungpany said. “I want to bring him home to my parents. My parents are waiting for their kids to come back together, but now one is gone.”
In 2022, 14 people were killed by a fire at a music bar in the eastern part of the country. And more than a decade before that, 67 people were killed and more than 200 injured in a fire during a Jan. 1, 2009, New Year’s Eve celebration at the Santika nightclub in Thailand’s capital. That blaze was apparently sparked by an indoor fireworks display.
Sahatthaya Kraikhunthot contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
