‘Over 11,000 buildings in Bangkok need annual inspections’

The blaze in Soi Narathiwat 18 claimed one victim, Angkana Aisiri, 65, who died by suffocation. |The cause of the fire was the burning of Chinese New Year offerings on the third floor, which was left unattended.

“There are some steel bars jutting up from the floor, which can |be repaired, but permission from |an engineering specialist and the BMA are needed,” Taiwut Khankaew, director of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Building Control Division, said yesterday.

According to a survey by the Engineering Institute of Thailand, no improper expansion of the 10-storey building was found, but the flames spread quickly because the interior was mostly decorated with teak.

It said all 11,300 buildings that fit the nine categories in ministerial regulations on building inspections must be examined by experts – once a year – to prevent such tragedies.

The categories are buildings taller than 23 metres, buildings larger than 10,000 square metres, buildings that can accommodate more than 500 people, any kind |of theatre, hotels larger than |80 rooms, residential buildings larger than 2,000 sqm, factories taller than one storey or larger |than 5,000sqm, billboards taller than 15m or larger than 50sqm and entertainment establishments larger than 200sqm, he said.