Thai police will charge with negligence the owner of a Bangkok bar where 37 people died in a fire last month, the official leading the investigation said today.
“We issued an arrest warrant against him last week on six charges,” including negligence resulting in death and operating an entertainment establishment without a license, Isara Na Phatthalung told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
“He has already been discharged from intensive care, but the doctor has not yet authorized police to notify him of the charges,” he added, specifying that investigators intend to charge him as the sole suspect in the coming days.
Read more about this topic: Bangkok bar fire death toll rises to 34 after 20-year-old succumbs to injuries (with video)
Suvicha Salaibatr, owner of the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao bar-restaurant, is among the dozens of people hospitalized after flames devastated the popular establishment in the northern part of the Thai capital on July 12.
If found guilty, the owner faces up to ten years in prison on the negligence charge alone. Most victims died from smoke inhalation during the fire, which police say was caused by a short circuit in the false ceiling. Safety standards are often loosely enforced at nightlife establishments in Thailand, where a 2009 fire at a Bangkok nightclub killed 67 people and injured more than 200.
