“Most of the people who died were found in the toilets. When the fire broke out, they panicked. There were no lights,” national police chief Kitrat Panphet said.
Kaew-udon Poungppany, 24, from Laos, fought back tears as he described trying to reach his younger brother, who did not survive.
“I grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed it at the door… but I couldn’t go any further. I heard people screaming,” he told journalists.
Preliminary investigations by Bangkok’s disaster mitigation department suggest the fire could have been caused by an electrical short circuit in an air conditioner, though no official cause has been given.
Authorities have promised a thorough investigation.
This is not the first time such an incident has occured in Thailand. Despite official promises to improve fire and electrical safety standards following previous incidents, they are still often poorly enforced.
One survivor escaped by seconds after she stepped outside for a cigarette, Reuters news agency reported. “There was a boom – a very fast boom… There was no way to get out at all,” 41-year-old Usa Tadsree said.
She described seeing rescuers carry out the body of a friend she was drinking and enjoying the music with, just minutes earlier.
“I lost my mind,” she said. “It looked like she was asleep.”
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who visited the scene early on Monday, said a musician who was performing when the fire broke out told him “there was blasting and everybody tried to flee from the smoke and flames”.
Many people did not make it out of the bar because they “went to the back of the building and tried to hide themselves… in the toilet”, the musician said, according to Anutin.
Firefighters, who were alerted to the blaze by a passing driver, were reportedly able to bring the flames under control in about half an hour.
However, despite their efforts, 28 people were killed. Some 71 people were injured, including 25 who are in critical condition, authorities said.
According to an update on Monday evening, 14 people are moderately injured, while 32 are slightly injured.
The owner of the bar is among those currently in intensive care.
Initial findings suggest the majority of the victims died from smoke inhalation, said Suriyachai Raviwan, the director of Bangkok’s disaster mitigation department.
Bangkok governor Chatchart Sittipunt said the flammable interior decorations on the bar’s ceiling may have facilitated the blaze’s rapid spread.
There are also reports of people found unconscious near the building’s emergency exit, suggesting that there may have been some obstruction, the governor added.
Authorities say these suggestions can only be confirmed through further investigation by forensic officers.
One motorcyclist, Surin Jaiharn, told AFP that he helped about five people flee the burning bar using clothing to extinguish flames on their bodies.
“I feel depressed. I saw many deaths and I do not know the fate of the people I helped,” he told AFP.
The driver who alerted the fire department told Thai news outlet the Daily News that he broke windows to help two people escape.
Dramatic video footage of the event showed smoke billowing, and then fire blasting, through a doorway. Fire investigator Vithyaa Thavapalan told the BBC this is not unusual.
“As the fire grows, a layer of extremely hot gases and smoke forms beneath the ceiling. Once an opening such as a doorway becomes available, that hot gas layer vents out of the building,” the managing director and forensic fire investigator at Forensic Origin & Cause Investigations described.
“While it appears intense, this can be normal behaviour in a well-developed compartment fire,” he added.
As of Monday morning, the bar has been cordoned off, with shattered windows and furniture piled up outside its entrance. Confronting pictures have emerged of many body bags lined up outside the bar.
Inside, the furniture, walls and ceiling are completely blackened, with parts of the ceiling peeled off. When the BBC arrived at the scene on Monday, an acrid smell of burning lingered in the air.
