Second Russian tourist dies from fire injuries

Tourist Igor Badera, 47, died from smoke inhalation and lack of oxygen to the brain, Dr Suwinai Budsarakhamwong, the director of Kluay Nam Thai 1 Hospital, said.
Igor was the husband of Liumila Badera, 40, who suffocated during the fire. Some 20 other people treated for injuries – mostly foreign hotel guests who suffered smoke inhalation – had been discharged, he said.
Bangkok Metropolitan Administrative (BMA) officials will inspect floor plans for high-rise hotels in the capital that applied for modification from tomorrow.
Deputy governor Theerachon Manomiapibul said the BMA public works department would on Monday inspect the floor plans of hotels that applied for modification in 1992 and the city approved in 1993 – to see if modifications were done according to approved plans. If not, the city could sue the hotels for breaching criminal and civil codes, he said.
The city has set up 50 working teams to inspect the safety of buildings in 50 districts and to advise landlords on boosting safety to legal standards. They would inspect nine types of buildings including high-rises, extra-large blocks, entertainment venues, hotels with over 80 rooms, condominiums and service establishments, he said. The committee would report back to BMA public works in 30 days.
Bangkok City Council chairman Suttichai Weerakulsunthorn said yesterday that, following two fires in high-rises in the past week, the council would assign a 17-member committee to draft a regulation so all buildings in Bangkok comply with the Building Control Act 1992.
The committee’s first meeting would be held this week to gather information from district offices, the BMA public works department as well as Interior Ministry’s Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, he said. They would discuss issues such as how to get basic fire safety measures in buildings built before 1992.
After that, if a building was found to violate the Building Control Act, district officials were authorised to not issue building inspection certificates and the landlord could face charges of illegally modifying a building or failing to install fire safety measures according to the Building Control Act.
Suttichai said BMA public works department and district officials would inspect high-rise blocks next week and report back to the new committee. He also affirmed his previous comment that the BMA may buy a helicopter to boost its fire-fighting and rescue capability.