25 die in Bangkok
(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright)
BANGKOK, April 20. At least 25 persons, many of them thought to be European tourists and American servicemen and their families, died early today when a Are swept through a Bangkok hotel.
One wing of the Imperial Hotel, near the American Embassy, was gutted. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner (Major-General Montchai Pankongchuen) said that some bodies were still in the debris. Most of the deaths were caused by suffocation, but identiAcation would be difficult because the guest-register had been destroyed. Witnesses say that the Are occurred about 4 a.m. after an explosion in the groundfloor coffee shop, a popular after-hours meeting place in Bangkok. “The explosion woke me up,” Mr Friedrick Osteroht, a West German tour leader, told leaders. "A Are started in the staircase and reception area after the'blast
“My room was. on the opposite side from the Are, but I jumped down one floor to the ground. People were screaming and jumping out of windows. Some broke their legs and their spines-”
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32586, 21 April 1971, Page 14
Word Count
17025 die in Bangkok Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32586, 21 April 1971, Page 14
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