The death toll from a huge fire in a Bangkok music bar has increased to 30, officials said Tuesday (July 14, 2026).

More than 70 people remain hospitalised, with 24 of them in critical condition, according to Bangkok city officials.

The blaze at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar, the city’s deadliest in 17 years, broke out late on Sunday (July 12, 2026) in a northern part of the Thai capital. Firefighters needed half an hour to bring it under control.

The bar, which in Thai calls itself a brewery or beer hall, claimed to accommodate as many as 600 customers. It was not clear how many were present on Sunday night (July 12, 2026).

An investigation into the cause of the fire and whether the bar was following safety regulations is ongoing. Most of the people who were killed were found trapped in windowless bathrooms where they may have sought to escape the flames, police said.

Former patrons of the bar and other mourners visited the site on Tuesday (July 14, 2026), adding to the growing pile of flowers leaning on the guardrails cordoning off the location of the blaze.

Handwritten messages in Thai and other languages, including Korean, were left alongside white flowers, expressing condolences to the victims.

Debris from the bar — like melted musical instruments and blackened chairs — lay scattered along the sidewalk, moved there on Monday (July 13, 2026) by Thai officials investigating the cause of the fire.

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.”