Thai police investigate pub in New Year inferno

Police announced plans to bring charges against a major shareholder in the Santika, Visuk Setsawad, for permitting people under the drinking age of 20 to enter the pub which turned into a deadly inferno Thursday morning - New Year's Day.

 Hospitals on Friday had been able to identify 40 of the 59 victims of the fire, including one Singaporean, police and metropolitan authorities said.

 At least 51 of the injured were still in hospital Friday, including 12 foreigners from Australia, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, a spokesman at the Bangkok emergency centre said.

 Chulalongkorn Hospital performed emergency surgery on Japanese national Keiichi Wada, 25, to drain water from his abdomen, according to The Nation online news service. Wada suffered burns to 60 per cent of his body and was in a coma.

 Survivors of the tragedy said the fire started less than 30 minutes after midnight, shortly after a pyrotechnical display on the second floor of the Santika Pub which had billed its New Year's Eve bash as "Goodbye Santika," as the lease on the premises was due to expire on January 1.

 Police have not yet been able to contact the pub's owner, but a preliminary investigation has raised questions about the legal status of the pub's operations.

 An unidentified source at the Metropolitan Police Bureau told the Bangkok Post newspaper that Santika Pub, one of Bangkok's most popular hangouts for well-to-do young Thais and expatriates, had been registered as a "night-time food shop" instead of an entertainment venue, which required it to close at midnight.

 Deputy Police Commissioner-General Police General Jongrak Juthanon claimed Friday that the police had been opposed to the pub's operations but had been overruled by an injunction of the Administrative Court.

 The pub had only one main exit and one fire extinguisher, raising serious questions about the building's safety standards and those of other entertainment venues in the capital.

 Most of the casualties were caused by a mad rush to get out through the main door as the fire quickly spread through the pub, causing a blackout that added to the chaos.

 It took firefighters about two hours to get the fire under control Thursday morning, leaving the building gutted.