Does this come as a big surprise? Santika Pub was operating illegally

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The following appears in the BANGKOK POST:

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Pub Operated Illegally

 

Owner, Others Facing Charges of Flouting Law

 

By: MANOP THIP-OSOD and APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL

 

Owner Wisuk Setsawat and others responsible for the Santika pub, which caught fire on Thursday causing the loss of 59 lives, will face legal action for admitting underage revelers, letting its insurance lapse and not having an operating license.

 

Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Jongrak Chuthanont said the owner of Santika on Ekamai road applied for an operating licence in 2004, but the request was rejected because construction was unfinished at the time.

 

The owner then asked the Administrative Court to temporarily approve the operation, which it did.

 

Deputy city clerk Wanwilai Phromlakhano said the pub building received a construction permit when it was built in 2003.

 

However, approval of the operating licence rested with police, who were in dispute with the owner of the building. Ms Wanwilai did not elaborate.

 

Pol Maj-Gen Chokechai Deeprasertwit, commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's Division 5, said Santika was not insured. Its insurance coverage expired four months ago and was not extended as the pub lease contract was about to expire.

 

As the insurance had expired, police have ruled out the possibility of arson.

 

However, experts have yet to conclude whether the fire started by accident, Pol Maj-Gen Chokechai said.

 

Police were waiting for Santika pub owner Wisuk Setsawat to show up for questioning.

 

Pol Maj-Gen Chokechai said he did not know when Mr Wisuk would turn up and added that the pub owner suffered a respiratory problem in the fire.

 

Mr Wisuk was hospitalised but police said his whereabouts were not immediately known.Police will call Chris Pongpithaya, the owner of the pub building, and Suriya Ritrabue, the pub manager, for interrogation instead.

 

Worapot Inthulak, chief of the Watthana district office, said an early investigation attributed the fire to fireworks set off inside the building during the Santika's farewell party that night.

 

He said the fireworks set ablaze materials inside the building.

 

The fire killed 59 people and injured at least 243. Twenty-one bodies, 14 of which had been taken to Chulalongkorn hospital, still could not be identified.

 

Nantana Sitthisak, head of Chulalongkorn hospital's forensics department, said six of the 14 bodies were burned beyond recognition.

 

An autopsy report shows all were Asian women.

 

Another two days to a week would be needed to complete the body identification process, she said.

 

A body identification centre has been set up at the Thong Lor police station.

 

Pol Lt-Gen Danai Wongthai, chief of the Police Forensic Science Department, said identification would have to rely on DNA tests.

 

Some of the dead's relatives filed complaints yesterday.

 

Yai Waythita from Pattani said her younger brother who died in the Santika fire always carried his ID card and 10,000 baht in cash with him, but both were missing.

 

Patthida Phosri, who lost her husband Arthithep, said she had first seen the body of her husband wearing a gold necklace weighing five-baht and two gold-framed amulets, but the valuables later disappeared.

 

Another Bangkok bar caught fire early yesterday, but there were no casualties.

 

The four-storey Rawhide bar on Soi Cowboy off Sukhumvit Soi 23 caught fire after hours. A faulty electric connection to decorations on a Christmas tree was blamed.

 

The mezzanine floor and ceiling tiles on the first floor were damaged but no one was injured because the fire happened after the pub had closed.

 

Like the Santika, the Rawhide bar had been full of customers on New Year's Eve, but was very quiet in the early hours of yesterday.