1 killed, 47 injured in massive fire at shopping, residential building

Rescuers took hours to rescue some 50 people from the Sua Pa Plaza building in Pomprab district.

The body of Sanguan Saenkaew, 45, was found on the seventh floor after the blaze was put out.

The fire broke out at 8:30 pm. The blaze, which caused thick smokes, quickly spread to other floors, causing panic among shoppers and residents of the building. Many of them rushed to the rooftop to wait for help.

The building's 4th-6th floor are residential area of 50 rooms to each floor while the 7th to 9th floors provided sauna service.

About 60 fire engines were deployed to fight the blaze, causing traffic congestion on the Sua Pa road.

By 9:15 pm, fire fighters managed to control the blaze but could not put it out completely as thick smokes still filled inside the building.

Initially, 19 people were rescued from the rooftop using a ladder of a fire engine.

Fire fighters also went inside the building and rescued some 10 other people from the first to fourth floors.

Later on, 30 more people fled to the rooftop and were rescued by a helicopter which landed on the roof of adjacent building. The stranded people were directed through a stairway to the adjacent building and were lifted to safety by the helicopter late at night.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Pol Lt Gen Suchart Muenkaew said about 100 people live inside the building and at least 50 of them were rescued.

Firefighters continued to douse the building with water but smokes still billowed out of the building late Sunday night, causing fear that the building would collapse.

The Erawan Emergency Centre reported that 32 people were rushed to the Central Hospital, 6 Hua Chiew Hospital, 4 to Vajira Hospital, 3 to Lerdsin Hospital, 1 to Rajvithi Hospital and another to the Ramathibodi Hospital.