Relatives of fire victims arrive at the Institute of Forensic Police hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo: AP)

Singer Sukanya Wongwongwai was performing at an event when she heard news of a fire at a nearby nightclub in Bangkok. She rushed to the spot, knowing several of her bandmates were on stage that night at the Na Ladprao pub. One of them was among the 30 killed in the blaze. Three were hospitalised. One was still missing.

“From what I heard from people who were inside, when the fire started, everything went dark. The power was out, and pic.twitter.com/jDLhEyfLYE

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 12, 2026

A registration point was set up at the scene for relatives searching for missing loved ones. Monks visited to pray for the dead, while nurses handed out face masks to nearby residents to guard against lingering fumes.

This is not the country’s first mass-casualty venue fire. A 2022 blaze at a music bar in eastern Thailand killed 14 people. In one of the deadliest such disasters in Thai history, a New Year’s Eve fire at Bangkok’s Santika nightclub, reportedly sparked by an indoor fireworks display, killed 66 people and injured more than 200 in 2009.

Authorities have not yet confirmed the fire’s official cause, though the account of a circuit breaker fault points towards an electrical origin. The investigation is expected to focus on whether building materials, blocked exits, or safety oversight failures contributed to the scale of casualties.

(With inputs from Associated Press and Reuters)