Police in Nonthaburi are reporting that a jailhouse blaze that claimed the lives of four prisoners was started by an electrical short circuit.
Pol Lt Gen Charamporn Suramanee said that a forensic investigation pointed to a faulty switchboard as the original source of the fire, which quickly spread to a cache of seized motorbikes that the police had collected behind the station. Gasoline inside these bikes ignited upon contact with the fire, causing the blaze to spread rapidly.
Four prisoners died as a result of the blaze after the prison’s staff abandoned them inside their cells.
The Nation reports that Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok said that the families of the victims will be compensated for the deaths and that the officers responsible will face punishment.
