(Video) Hotels asked to check for missing guests at Thai resort after nightclub fire kills four

 
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20 August 2012

Hotels at a Thai resort popular with Brits are being asked to check for missing guests after three foreign holidaymakers were killed in a fire that swept a local nightclub.

Four partygoers were burned to death beyond recognition after the blaze tore through the Tiger Disco club in the early hours of the morning.

Horrified onlookers told of “people running on fire” from the club in the Thai resort island of Patong, Phuket, after a lightning strike and heavy rain sparked an electrical fire.

As the blaze engulfed the building on one of Patong’s busiest streets for nightlife the building teetered on the brink of collapse, threatening to crush those who remained inside.

Police colonel Jirapat Phothanaphan confirmed that bodies of the fatal victims were too charred to identify, while 20 people including four French nationals were hospitalised.

French tourist 30-year-old Benjamin Tallanotte was taken to hospital with 40 per cent burns. From his hospital bed, the confused backpacker told Phuket Wan News Tourism: "Tiger Disco? I don't know what happened.''

Other victims were being treated for suffocation. A hospital worker told ABC news that two patients were in a "critical condition" from severe burns.

She added: "The four dead bodies were burnt beyond recognition. We cannot identify even their gender."

Australian Jaryd Kemp, 26, who was in the nightclub, “could not believe” only four people had died, given the ferocity of the fire.

He said: “It had been a crazy night like all nights are in Thailand, but things went bad when lightning hit power lines and transformer exploded five metres away from me causing sparks and blue flames shooting off it.

"People on fire running out of the club like you would see in a movie. When I heard the reports of only four dead I couldn't believe that.

"I'm safe just exhausted. Patong is my second home to Darwin and had to make sure all my friends were OK."

Kanyaporn Kantong, 25, was one of hundreds of people in the disco at the time. She said: ''Someone pushed me out the door. I owe them my life.

''I went there with two friends about 2.30am. We saw the smoke but I thought it was a disco special effect. Then I looked up at the disco ball and saw the flames.

''We knew then that it was serious.”

A Foreign Office spokesperson this morning said: "We are aware of the fire at a nightclub in Phuket and our colleagues in Thailand are in contact with local authorities to see if any British nationals have been affected."

Mr Jirapat said the nationalities of the dead were not yet known, but both Thais and foreigners were among the injured.

He added the fire broke out about two hours before dawn at the club, which is on a main entertainment street in Phuket's popular Patong beach area, after a lightning strike exploded a transformer.

The BBC has reported that up to 20 people may have been injured, and that some were seriously burned.

Phuket deputy governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada said: “There are four confirmed dead. We believe they are foreign tourists, but it's not yet confirmed.”

The manager of the Tiger Discotheque, Tamrongsak Boonsak, said: "'People heard two blasts and it was originally thought that it was further down Soi Bangla.

''We will do what we can to help those who have been injured and to help the families of those who have died.''

He estimated damage at 100 million baht (£2 million). A full police investigation is now underway.

Thailand is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, attracting 19 million visitors last year to its beaches, temples and racy nightlife in the capital, Bangkok.

However, lax safety standards can be a problem.

In the worst incident in recent years, 66 people died and more than 200 were injured when a fire broke out in a club in central Bangkok as people were welcoming in the new year in the early hours of January 1, 2009.

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