PHUKET: The blaze that killed four people at Phuket's Tiger Discotheque last month began inside the building, says a report by forensics investigators.
The key finding was revealed to Phuket media today at Kathu Police Station, which oversees Patong, the tourist nightlife hub on Phuket's west coast.
It had been claimed in the immediate aftermath of the deadly blaze that a lightning strike to a transformer in Patong's famous walking street, Soi Bangla, caused the conflagration.
Police will now be considering whether to lay charges over the blaze, which occurred at 3.55am on August 17, almost two hours after the discotheque should have closed.
Nothing more was revealed today from the report by the National Office of Forensic Science. Patong police already hold an earlier report by the Building Society Inspectors and Officers Association and the Association of Siamese Architects.
That report is critical of the use of flammable insulation material in the building.
It also pointed out that exit signs failed to stay lit after the power failed, that some exits did not provide adequate means of escape, that power lines were not well-protected, and that some fire extinguishers were fixed too high above the floor.
Police at the meeting said they would inform the relatives of the dead - two Thai women, Dongporn Budkor, 32, and Nipawat Sutasorn, 36, an Englishman, Michael Tzouvanni, 24, and a Frenchman, Emmanuel Becard, 30 - about the findings of the latest report.
It is believed the British and French embassies are taking a close interest in the investigation.
Kathu Police Superintendent Jirapat Polchanaphan, Deputy Superintendent Colonel Kittipong Klaikeaw, Deputy Superintendent Akanit Danpitaksat and the Deputy Superintendent of Phuket Provincial Police, Colonel Chamnan Pannaborn, were among officers at today's meeting.
The key finding was revealed to Phuket media today at Kathu Police Station, which oversees Patong, the tourist nightlife hub on Phuket's west coast.
It had been claimed in the immediate aftermath of the deadly blaze that a lightning strike to a transformer in Patong's famous walking street, Soi Bangla, caused the conflagration.
Police will now be considering whether to lay charges over the blaze, which occurred at 3.55am on August 17, almost two hours after the discotheque should have closed.
Nothing more was revealed today from the report by the National Office of Forensic Science. Patong police already hold an earlier report by the Building Society Inspectors and Officers Association and the Association of Siamese Architects.
That report is critical of the use of flammable insulation material in the building.
It also pointed out that exit signs failed to stay lit after the power failed, that some exits did not provide adequate means of escape, that power lines were not well-protected, and that some fire extinguishers were fixed too high above the floor.
Police at the meeting said they would inform the relatives of the dead - two Thai women, Dongporn Budkor, 32, and Nipawat Sutasorn, 36, an Englishman, Michael Tzouvanni, 24, and a Frenchman, Emmanuel Becard, 30 - about the findings of the latest report.
It is believed the British and French embassies are taking a close interest in the investigation.
Kathu Police Superintendent Jirapat Polchanaphan, Deputy Superintendent Colonel Kittipong Klaikeaw, Deputy Superintendent Akanit Danpitaksat and the Deputy Superintendent of Phuket Provincial Police, Colonel Chamnan Pannaborn, were among officers at today's meeting.
