UPDATE
BURNED Tiger Disco patron Benjamin Tallanotte has been flown home to France at the Tiger Group's expense, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. It is not known whether Mr Tallanotte or his family negotiated compensation.
Original Report
PHUKET: The fourth and final victim of Phuket's Tiger Disco blaze was identified yesterday as Frenchman Emmanuel Becard, 30, Patong police said today.
Long anticipated confirmation of Mr Becard's identity came with a DNA match with his mother, who provided her DNA in France.
The match took more than two weeks because international standards of identity require 99.9 percent certainty, which can only be achieved with a DNA match, dental record comparisons or fingerprints.
Dental records were used to confirm the identity of the British victim of the blaze, Michael Tzouvanni, 24, while DNA checks gave names to Thai women Dongporn Budkor, 32, and Nipawat Sutasorn, 36.
The after-hours blaze broke out at the Tiger Discotheque on Patong's famous Soi Bangla walking street about 3.50am on August 17, almost two hours after the venue should have closed.
Eleven people were treated for injuries. Some - including the nightclub's owner, Piya Isaramalai - jumped for their lives as flammable foam insulation fed the flames and smoke asphyxiated the four victims on an interior dance floor balcony.
The families of the two Thai victims have accepted payment of one million baht each as compensation for the deaths. Cheques were handed over a week after the blaze at the opening of the new Tiger Live Band venue, in Soi Bangla opposite the wreck of the Tiger Disco.
It's believed Mr Tzouvanni's family are likely to seek a larger amount of compensation and to want an independent British coronial investigation to rule on the cause of the blaze.
Investigations by Thai police into the cause of the fire are continuing.
The most seriously injured of the Tiger Disco's patrons, Benjamin Tallanotte, 30, suffered second degree burns to 40 percent of his body. He was transferred from Phuket to a Bangkok hospital for further treatment.
Can you tell me if the tiger group pay all the families off does that mean they will never be brought before a proper court of law to answer for these avoidable deaths, surely the justice system in Thailand would not allow the tiger groups owners to get away with the deaths of these 4 innocents just because they can pay victims families off if that is the case it's an utter disgrace.
Posted by Scunner on September 5, 2012 19:56
Editor Comment:
Until there is an official ruling on the cause of the blaze and some judgements about responsibility, you are making claims about the Tiger Group that are an utter disgrace, Scunner. Prejudice is despicable. Get over it.