Electrical short circuit assumed to be cause of Bangkok's hotel fire

BANGKOK, March 9 (TNA) - Metropolitan police have initially assumed that a fire at the Grand Park Avenue Hotel on Sukhumvit 22 Road in Bangkok Thursday night was caused by an electrical short circuit. Metropolitan Police Deputy Chief Police Major General Anuchai Lekbumrung, however, told journalists Friday morning that experts from the Office of Forensic Science were inspecting the scene to determine the cause of the fire. The fire broke out around 10pm at a function room on the fourth floor of the hotel, where several foreign visitors stay. Firefighters took almost two hours to control the fire. According to updated reports, some 27 people were injured from suffocation, most of them were foreigners, and were all rushed to nearby hospitals. One of them, identified as a Russian woman, later died at a hospital. Meanwhile, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has announced the hotel and its vicinity an off-limits zone pending authorities' thorough inspection and verification of its safety. (TNA)