Apartment fire kills one, injures 24 others
A taxi motorcyclist was killed after he allegedly set himself on fire which swept through an apartment in Pathum Thani killing himself and severely injuring at least 24 tenants early Saturday morning.
Many helpless tenants of the Sompon Apartment in Pathum Thani's Klong Luang district were severely injured after jumping from the third or fourth floor of the apartment to escape fire. Many others were trapped in their room and severely burnt. They were heard screaming for help when fire raged through their rooms. After the fire was put out by three fire engines at 1 am, rescuers found a charred body of a man on top of his a motorcycle in front of a room on the ground floor. Rescuers rushed the injured to several hospitals. Twelve were sent to Phatara-Thon Buri Hospital, seven to Thammasat Hospital, and five other to Thammasat Univesrity's Medical school. Thongsuk Pikul, 41, a grocery store owner on the ground floor, told police that a motorcyclist came to meet his ex-wife at 10:30 pm Friday night but he could not find her. The man asked her to call out is ex-wife to meet him but she told him that the woman had left the room with another man at 9 pm. She said the motorcyclist would not believe her. She said the man bought a beer of bottle. The man drank and rode the motorcycle around noisily until the fire broke out at shortly after 11 pm. Thongsuk told police that she heard the man knocking the door of his ex-wife at 11 pm for a while and then heard people screamed that there was a fire. Police said they suspected that motorcyclist might set himself on fire while he was on his motorcycle in front of the room of his ex-wife and the blaze quickly engulfed rooms on the first and second floors. Thongsuk said she saw many tenants jumped to roofs next of building next to the apartment and many ran up to the rooftop of the apartment, which has 30 rooms. She said she saw many on the first floor ran screaming through the fire to fall down outside the apartment. Jaruwat Jalah, 44, who survived with his wife and son, inside a room on the ground floor, said he heard a motorcycle falling down on the floor so he opened his room to see that outside was engulfed in a blaze. Jaruwat said he closed the door and used water to douse the door to prevent the fire from spreading to his room. He said he heard his neighbours scream for help.
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