No injuries reported
Damage caused by Friday’s fire at a Pattaya hotel was estimated at more than a million baht.
About 400 foreign guests – children, elderly and disabled persons among them – were evacuated by emergency personnel and volunteers after flamed erupted from the front of the Holiday Inn Express on Soi Buakhao about 4:30 a.m. Dec. 6. No injuries were reported.
Two fire trucks, paramedics and doctors from Bangkok Hospital Pattaya responded to the blaze at the eight-story budget hotel. Firefighters took about 30 minutes to quell the flames.
Security guard Supatchai Panwilai, 29, said he saw smoke pouring out of a terrace on the front of the hotel and it spread quickly due to strong winds.
Police said a preliminary investigation pointed to an electrical spark setting off a fire on area overhanging the hotel’s entrance and spread along cables to the third floor and then to several higher floors.
Guests were allowed to return to their rooms in the afternoon and hotel staffers said most of the damage was on the front exterior. The middle and back of the building was untouched. Damage was estimated at a million baht or more.
