Police have received information from the Metropolitan Electricity Authority that the owner of the Rong Beer Na Ladprao pub had asked for the standard 30/100 electricity meter to be replaced with a higher capacity model to accommodate additional electrical appliances.
When MEA officials asked to check the premises before the installation of the new meter, however, the owner declined, claiming that the pub was not yet ready for the check, according to Pol Lt-Gen Sayam Boonsom, commissioner of Metropolitan Police Bureau.
He said the owner’s excuse for rejecting MEA’s request is suspicious and might indicate that additional electrical appliances had already been installed without the electricity meter being upgraded.
“This information from the MEA is important evidence, which might indicate negligence on the part of the pub,” said the police commissioner, adding that increased electricity consumption may lead to overloading of the meter, resulting in an electrical short circuit and outbreak of a fire,” he said.
He disclosed that autopsy reports show that all the deaths from the fatal fire at the pub on late Sunday night were caused by inhalation of smoke laced with cyanide and carbon monoxide, which can result to death within four minutes of inhalation.
Several police officers who risked their lives to rescue people from the burning pub have suffered throat inflammation and irritation of the respiratory system and were treated at the Police General Hospital before being discharged.
The police commissioner said that, although charges have not been formally laid against the pub owner yet, police are pondering multiple charges, including illegal modification of the building, negligence resulting in a fire and negligence resulting in the deaths of and injuries to multiple people.
The police are also looking at whether the four exits from the pub were up to the required standards.
On Thursday, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration ordered the temporary closure of three pubs in the Pathumwan, Charan Sanitwong and Phetchaburi areas for failing the meet safety standards
