MALAYSIAN INJURED IN SANTIKA FIRE REMAINS IN HOSPITAL

BY D. ARUL RAJOO

BANGKOK, Jan 5 (Bernama) -- Minutes after watching fellow new year revellers
lighting firecrackers inside the Santika Club here, a Malaysian woman had to
crawl over dead bodies to escape the blaze at the nightclub which killed 64
people.

Muar-born Yew Siew Fen, 32, said she was very lucky to survive as the fire
spread very fast and people were pushing and jostling to get to the only exit at
the club which was planning to cease operations after the new year party.

"I was very surprised when someone from the stage distributed firecrackers
to the customers. People were playing firecrackers inside the club...I have
never seen such things in other countries," she said when met at the Ramathibodi
Hospital here Monday.

Yew, who has been working in Singapore as a travel agent consultant for the
past eight years, said as people were playing with the firecrackers, she saw one
of the spotlights catch fire and it spread to the ceiling.

"I was standing not far from the stage and also the exit. But the heat was
so intense and sparkles hit us...I was pushed to the ground and fainted," said
Yew, who had also visited the club a night before the incident with her friends.
On the night of the incident, her friends went to another nightclub to celebrate
the new year.


Yew said she woke up after few minutes and managed to crawl over dead bodies
in the dark before someone helped her to get out from the burning building.

She suffered second degree burns on her hands and legs, as well as face and
head.

Initially, the Thai authorities had said that no Malaysian were involved in
the fire and only knew about Yew's identity on the second day before they
alerted the Malaysia Embassy here.

The death toll rose to 64 with the death of a Japanese citizen Monday while
68 remain hospitalised, including 35 in intensive care units. Among the dead are
three Singaporeans.

Yew said she needs about two weeks to fully recover and was making plans
with her insurance company to get treatment in Singapore.

"The doctors wanted to discharge me on Saturday and asked me to come back
for check-up Tuesday but that will incur additional cost for me. They also said
it was not feasible to transfer me to a private hospital as the government will
only pay for treatment at government hospitals," she said.

-- BERNAMA