At least 13 people were killed and more than 20 others injured after a fire erupted at a nightclub in Thailand's Chonburi province on Friday, local media reported.The fire, which broke out in the Mountain B nightclub at about 1 a.m., has been brought under control and the injured people have been hospitalised, Xinhua news agency reported.
The victims nine males and four females were all Thai nationals, said Wisarut Petcharat, a rescue worker at the scene with the Sawang Rojana Thammasathan Foundation.Wisarut said the club in Chonburi, a province located 150 km south of Bangkok, was a single-storey complex measuring 4,800 square metres.
Aa investigation into the cause of the accident was underway, he added.Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha announced on Friday that families of victims would receive aid from authorities and urged entertainment venues nationwide to ensure they had proper emergency exits and safety measures in place, reports the BBC.
This is not the first time a fire has broken out in a Thai nightclub.In 2009, more than 60 people died in Bangkok after a fire broke out at the Santika Club in the early hours of New Year's Day.Two men, including the owner of the club, were jailed in 2011.
A fire at a nightclub in Phuket in 2012 killed four people and injured about a dozen others.