Bangkok bar fire: death toll reaches 30 as police say negligence is ‘primary theory’

A man places flowers outside the the Rong Beer Na Ladprao pub in Bangkok, where at least 30 people died in a fire. Photograph: Wason Wanichakorn/AP

The Bangkok pub that became the scene of the city’s deadliest blaze in 17 years has said it will cooperate with an investigation into alleged negligence, as the death toll rose to 30.

The local district office said on Tuesday that three more people had died after the devastating fire that broke out in the early hours of Monday. An initial assessment by disaster officials found an electrical short ‌circuit in an air conditioner located in the ‌ceiling had caused the fire.