Cafe Worker Charged In Thailand Fire Death Toll Rises To 90 At Resort; Guests Say Rescuers Also Looters

Police have charged a coffee-shop manager with negligence in the explosion that started Thailand’s worst hotel fire, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Reports also said rescue workers discovered more bodies Saturday when they re-entered the ruins of Royal Jomtien Resort in Pattaya - after relatives insisted loved ones still were missing. The death toll rose to 90.

Survivors also alleged that volunteer rescue workers had looted valuables from rooms and victims’ bodies - a charge the rescue companies denied.

A fire that started Friday morning with a first-floor gas leak engulfed the 17-story luxury hotel in the beach resort of Pattaya, 70 miles south of Bangkok.

It burned for more than 12 hours as people screamed for help from upper windows and police in helicopters braved plumes of smoke to pluck terrified guests from the roof.

The Bangkok Post reported that police have arrested and charged coffee-shop supervisor Chamnien Phuto with negligence, alleging he mistakenly opened a gas valve, causing the explosion. Chamnien denied the charge, the Post said.

Police said many victims died because emergency exit doors had been chained shut to prevent guests from leaving without paying, and the hotel had no smoke detectors, sprinklers or fire extinguishers.

Police initially called off their search Saturday when the body count had reached 82, saying parts of the building were unsafe. But relatives of missing people urged officials to continue, which they did later Saturday and found eight more bodies.

Reports Sunday also blamed bureaucracy for the high death toll.

Police Gen. Pirapol Sunthornket of the Bangkok Fire Brigade told The Nation newspaper that it took 2-1/2 hours to get permission from his superiors to leave for Pattaya with equipment to fight the fire.