Missing man called his brother as pub burned
A Westerner missing in Phuket may have perished in this week's Tiger Discotheque fire, the brother of a British man who made desperate phone calls from the pub to tell him and his friends that he loved them told a press conference yesterday.
Speaking tearfully at the session, Joseph Suvalni 26, said his brother Michael, 24, called him at around 10pm London time last Friday to say: “I am at the Tiger, which is now on fire. I love everyone.”
“The signal was then gone, but I did not hear any screaming or commotion from the other side during the phone conversation. I have prayed all along that nothing bad has happened to him,” Suvalni said.
The badly charred bodies of all four fatalities in the fire were sent to Bangkok for DNA collection before Joseph Suvalni arrived in Phuket yesterday morning. Police led him to inspect a room at the Sands Inn in Khathoo district where Michael checked in, and found all of his belongings. Michael, a construction worker, was due to depart Thailand yesterday.
In a photo identification with Khathoo police prior to the press conference, Joseph could not positively identify the ring worn on a finger of one of the bodies seen in evidence photos.
Four missing-person complaints have been lodged with Khathoo police since the Tiger Discotheque fire, which killed four people and injured 11 others, two seriously. The four cases involve Niphawat Sudson, 36, a Nong Bua Lamphu native: Duangphorn Butkhlor, 32, a Nakhon Ratchasima native: an unidentified French national; and Michael Suvalni.
A deputy national police chief, Pol Lt-General Jaramphorn Suramanee, said the four victims succumbed to suffocation before their bodies were burned, citing initial autopsy results. He said identification of the bodies must be done through DNA verification and examination of clothing, birthmarks or tattoos by people who knew the victims.
His information that two of the bodies were likely of Asian women and two others appeared to belong to two Western males were consistent with the four missing-person complaints received by Khathoo police.
Meanwhile, the chief of the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA)’s Patong office on Saturday refuted allegations that the Tiger Discotheque fire was caused by an exploding transformer, as claimed by a lawyer representing a firm that runs the venue.
In a Phuket Gazette online article, Atipong Thongyon told the press, “We have checked the transformer and it is operating normally. Another transformer, belonging to Tiger Discotheque, is also working normally.” He explained that the PEA transformer for the section of Soi Bangla where Tiger Discotheque is located is about 50 metres from and on the same side of the road as the popular night club.
The transformer is rated at 250kVA (250,000 volt amps), which is suitable for housing and small businesses, said Atipong. “Tiger’s transformer is rated 400kVA, which is suitable for a big entertainment venue,” Atipong explained. “Both of the transformers are fine.”
