Mountain B Pub inferno claims 25th victim

Parichart Kwanyuenyong was pronounced dead at Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok following 72 days of treatment for severe burns suffered in the August 5 inferno.

Parichart was drinking at the pub in Chon Buri’s Sattahip district with friends on the night of the fire. After the blaze erupted, she managed to escape via the front door after all other exits were locked, receiving burns to about 85 per cent of her skin.

She was rushed to Queen Sirikit Naval Hospital where she spent one night before being sent to Chulalongkorn Hospital.

During treatment her blood became infected and she suffered lung and kidney failure so was placed on dialysis.

Doctors finally halted treatment on Saturday after her body failed to respond to medicines, and she was pronounced dead on Sunday morning.

Her family will hold the funeral at Wat Nong Wa in Rayong.

Thirteen victims were killed in the Mountain B blaze and 12 more have since succumbed to their injuries. It followed a 2009 inferno at the Santika Pub in Bangkok that killed 67 people and left 32 severely injured at a New Year’s party.

An investigation showed Santika had no signs for fire exits or emergency lights for escape routes.

The pub owner, Wisuk Setsawat, and Boonchu Laosinart, manager of the company hired to install the lighting system blamed for the blaze, were each sentenced to three years in jail.

Meanwhile the investigation of the Mountain B blaze found all fire escapes had been locked, giving pubgoers only one escape route through the front door.

The pub had also sound-proofed the roof using rubber tyres, which caught fire and began dripping onto the pub and partygoers below.

Workers demolished the gutted pub on Saturday, removing the remaining debris by truck and leaving only bare ground.

Relatives of the victims have filed a case for compensation at the Pattaya Court.