Claims Bangkok New Years party was illegal

A Briton injured in a New Year's Eve nightclub fire in Thailand said he was rescued by the "hand of an angel". Alex Wargacki, 29 was speaking as he recovered from the fire in Bangkok which claimed the lives of at least 61 partygoers and injured 200 more. The Londoner is among the four Britons receiving treatment in hospital after the stampede to flee the blaze which broke out at the Santika Club. Mr Wargacki is in intensive care at Bangkok's private Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital. The foreign exchange trader, who suffered burns and smoke inhalation during the panicked evacuation of the building, said he was lucky to be alive. He was pulled from the burning club by an unknown rescuer after collapsing as he tried to escape. He is now on a respirator to help him breathe. Mr Wargacki, who has lived in Bangkok for four years, said: "I felt myself going unconscious. I knew something was happening to my lungs. I could not breathe. I blacked out and fell to the floor. "I woke up and heard this voice saying. 'Come on. Come on this way'. Then I felt myself being dragged towards an exit. A crowd of people parted in front of me and then I was out in the open air. "Had it not been for this voice with the hand of an angel I would not be alive today. The voice sounded as if he was Thai. Maybe he was one of the people at the New Year's party." The upmarket Santika Club, in Bangkok's Ekamai entertainment district, was popular with affluent young Thais and foreigners. Thai police said it was packed with about 1,000 New Year's Eve revellers when the fire broke out. Bangkok police Major General Chokchai Deeprasertwit said the blaze could have been started by sparks flying from a New Year's countdown display on the stage. Emergency workers said escape from the venue was made more difficult because of the shortage of exits and the fact that bars were placed across second-floor windows. Dozens of corpses wrapped in white sheets were laid out in front of the burnt-out club. A Thai forensics expert said it could take a week to identify nearly 30 of the most badly disfigured bodies. Bangkok officials said a Singaporean man was killed and at least 35 foreigners were among the injured, including people from Australia, Belgium, France, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

» More on this story... «

ITN | January 2, 2009

Tags:. .panicked. .respirator. .stampede. .inhalation. .unconscious