Investigators combed through the wreckage on Monday (July 13, 2026) of a huge fire at a Bangkok bar that killed at least 28 people, as relatives began the grim task of identifying the dead.

More than 70 people were injured following the blaze on Sunday evening (July 12, 2026) on the outskirts of the Thai capital, officials said, the country’s worst such incident for almost two decades.

Flames ripped through the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao bar and restaurant and burst out of the entrance, sending people fleeing, several with their clothing burnt or ablaze.

“Everybody was running, squeezing into each other,” recalled Athipat “Ice” Wijarn, whose bandmates were on stage when the fire broke out around 11 p.m. (1600 GMT) Sunday (July 12, 2026).

The lights went out and he noticed smoke come from the circuit board behind them, he told the Thai talk show Hone-Krasae. As he crawled towards the exit, he said, “there was an explosion, and I got hit at the back of my head.” The keyboardist, Kwang, and the band’s singer, Breeze, both died.

No lights

The bodies of the victims were taken away early on Monday morning (July 13, 2026), before forensic police began picking their way through the devastated venue.

“The fire spread very quickly, reaching up to the ceiling. Smoke was likely the main cause of death,” Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt told reporters at the scene.

It was the deadliest fire in Thailand since a blaze tore through Bangkok’s Santika club during New Year celebrations in 2009, killing 67 people and injuring more than 200.

National police chief Kitrat Panphet said his investigators were hoping to speak to the owner of Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao, who is currently in intensive care.

“Most of the people who died were found in the toilets. When the fire broke out, they panicked. There were no lights,” he told reporters.

Police are examining if the exit doors were accessible, he said, noting that one was obstructed by a shelf, meaning only one person at a time could pass through. They are also looking at the electrical wiring in the 50-year-old building and whether any decorations may have fuelled the fire, he said.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who earlier visited the scene, said initial enquiries suggested there were “blind spots” without a visible fire escape route.

He urged everyone to wait for the official findings but added, “There will be no leniency if any laws have been broken.”

A huge fire engulfed a pub in Bangkok early on Monday morning (July 13, 2026), killing at least 27 people before firefighters brought the blaze under control, officials said.

Rescuers said the fire was reported around midnight. Footage shared online by first responders shows huge blaze raging out of the front door of the pub in the northern part of the Thai capital as people tried to flee, with thick black smoke pluming into the sky.

Thailand Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters at the scene that 27 people died and several have been taken to the hospital. He said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Firefighters took about half an hour to bring the fire under control, officials said. Photos of the aftermath show charred tables and chairs, and the damaged interior of the pub.

Thailand has seen similar tragedies in the past. In 2022, 14 people were killed by a fire at a music pub in the eastern part of the country.

And more than a decade before that, 66 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.