At least three tourists have died, including one American, after a fire broke out in a hotel near Khao San Road, a popular tourist area in Bangkok.
Just after 9 p.m. local time Sunday, Thai firefighters were called to The Ember Hotel on Tanee Road to put out the blaze. Seventy-five people were staying at the hotel, but only around 40 guests were in the building at the time of the fire.
Police are investigating the incident, and questions have turned to the safety of the hotel and that of other accommodations in the area.
An American man, Freeman Timothy Jr., 35, and a Ukrainian man, Tuzov Victor, 27, both died at the hospital, while a Brazilian woman, Carolina Pimentel Canales de Albuquerque, 24, died at the scene.
Seven others were hospitalized with injuries, including two Thai men, two German men and a Japanese man, according to authorities.
The six-story Ember Hotel is near the tourist hotspot of Khao San Road, known for its vibrant atmosphere, street food, market vendors, restaurants and bars.
But outside the hotel on Tanee Road, the atmosphere was somber. The smell of smoke lingered in the air. Tuk-tuk drivers and tourists gazed up at the holes punctured in the fifth-floor windows. The property has been cordoned off.
Mickey, who declined to give his surname as the police investigation is ongoing, is a hotel employee. He said the fire began on the fifth floor toward the back of the building.
“I was at home when the fire happened,” he told VOA. “But after investigating how the fire started, the fire happened in guest room 511. No [cigarette] smoke. The guests informed [us] they didn’t use any electricity. The electronic devices in the room were [a] hair dryer, kettle, light socket with the key card. The room sizes start from 20 square meters. The guests are Korean, but the three persons weren’t in the room,” he said.
Mickey said the Brazilian woman who died was found in Room 511.
“We have no idea why she was in the room. Her room was 502 with her boyfriend. The police are now doing a special investigation. The hotel opened in 2022, but there has been no issue like this before,” Mickey added.
Representatives of The Ember Hotel declined a VOA request for further comment.
Why all the guests did not immediately evacuate is unclear. A hotel employee said the alarm went off when the fire started. Authorities say 34 people went to the roof of the building before being evacuated via fire truck ladders.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt told reporters Sunday that the fire had been put out quickly and that he had ordered the hotel to shut down pending the investigation. The hotel has two fire exits and two fire extinguishers but no sprinkler system, which isn’t required because of the hotel’s small size, he said.
The fire happened next to NapPark Hostel, a popular backpacker accommodation that attracts thousands of guests a year.
Chan Holland is the owner of Canary Travel Thailand, a travel agency across the road from The Ember.
“It’s lucky the fire didn’t spread out right next to NapPark. Now people will be worried about safety standards of hotels in Thailand. Hotel rooms without sprinklers? That would worry me too," she told VOA.
The Bangkok Post newspaper reported that Natthriya Thaweevong, Thailand’s permanent secretary for tourism and sports, said the government would pay about $29,300 (1 million baht) in compensation for each death case and $14,600 (500,000 baht) for each injury case.
But Nithee Seeprae, deputy governor for marketing communications at the Tourism Authority of Thailand, told VOA that “nothing is clear yet” on the compensation, and that on Tuesday he would be going to the hospital to see the injured patients.
Thailand is in the middle of welcoming one of its biggest tourist waves in its history. The tourism authority expected nearly 1.6 million foreign tourists to visit the county between Dec. 21 and Jan. 1. Thailand has already welcomed at least 34 million visitors in 2024 and expects a record-breaking year for 2025, with 40 million arrivals forecasted.
Sanga Ruangwattankul, president of the Khao San Road Business Association, told The Associated Press the fire may affect the New Year’s Eve celebrations planned for Tuesday evening.
He later told VOA by phone that hotels within the Khao San Road area are not registered, which means they lack proper government safety checks.
“Some of the hotels don’t have licenses. In Khao San area I think around 80% of hotels are not registered," he said.
“The [Thai] Hotel Association rules and regulations are very difficult. For a three-star hotel, you need to have parking, a staircase next to the fire exit outside the building, and alarms, sprinklers, and everything. … If you don’t have this and fail to get the license, the government does not come to check them out."
Pravit Rojanaphruk, a veteran journalist at Khaosod English in Thailand, said more inspections must be done on hotel buildings to ensure they are safe.
“Cheap accommodations are possibly — if not particularly — shoddy when it comes to safety standards,” he told VOA. “It’s time to review the laws on building safety and pay attention to crowded tourist areas like Khao San to improve the safety standards.”
Other fires have broken out this year in popular tourist hotspots in the Thai capital.
In June, a fire killed thousands of animals and destroyed more than 100 shops in Chatuchak Market. And in July, a major fire in Chinatown injured at least two people while dozens were affected by the fiery fumes. No deaths were reported in either blaze.
