A couple sleeping in a room of a rental building narrowly escaped with their lives when their air-conditioning unit blew up causing a massive fire.
Four fire engines rushed through the narrow streets of Wat Chai Mongkol market in South Pattaya on June 2, after receiving a report that a fire was raging in a room on the 4th floor of a 5-storey building and that two people were trapped in it.
On arrival they saw that a man and a woman were precarious perched on the ledge of the balcony attempting to climb down to the 3rd floor to escape the flames and certain death. People on the ground held their breaths as the couple made it safely to the floor below. They also noticed that the man and woman were not wearing any clothes.
Firemen rushed up to the room and extinguished the fire in 20 minutes, meanwhile rescuing the couple and bringing them safely down to the ground. Unfortunately every piece of furniture and all the tenants’ possessions were destroyed by the fire.
Nilawan Thongsri, 21, told police that she lived with her boyfriend in the room. At the time of the incident, they were both sleeping in bed with the air-conditioner running. “All of a sudden we heard a loud explosion and saw smoke and fire billowing out of the air-conditioning unit. We tried desperately to put out the fire, but could not.”
The couple ran out to the balcony at the front of the building and screamed for help. Seeing that no one was able to do anything to help them, they decided to climb down the front of the building to the floor below. During all the excitement the panic stricken couple did not notice that they naked. But that didn’t bother them as they had to get out to save their own lives.
Upon questioning, the owner of the building told police that the bottom floor of her shop was rented out to a noodle shop, while the 2nd to the 5th floors had 10 rooms for rent. The room that burnt was the only room rented out in the whole building.
Rescue units from the Sawangboriboon Thammasathan Pattaya Foundation treated the couple for smoke inhalation and transported them to the Pattaya City Hospital for further treatment.
The police forensics department investigating the cause of the fire.
credit P mail
