Thanks to everyone who has sent me a message asking about my status. As this post should confirm I am indeed okay. I was not at Santika club up on Ekamai on NYE. I was up in Chiang Mai about 750 kilometers north of Bangkok.
That being said, the people I went up to Chiang Mai with did know at least one Thai girl who died (Ada Sumalee Meksup). They also knew a British guy (Alex Wargacki) who is currently listed in critical condition. We received news from some friends down in BKK Sat morning.
Ada Sumalee Meksup
Alex Wargacki
For the back story; a popular Ekamai nightclub called Santika caught fire on Friday night killing at least 58 and injuring over 200. From the news reports it appears that the fire was started when someone set off fireworks in the club after midnight as part of the NYE celebration. The second floor caught fire and the fire spread rapidly as several hundred people tried to exit through the front door.
Police say they will charge the owner of the club for allowing people under the age of 20 to enter the club as some of the injured and dead were under 20. He will not be charged with arson as his fire insurance had run out some time ago. In an eerie coincidence this was to be a farewell party for the Santika nightclub as it was unable to renew its lease and was considering opening at a new location.
It’s a really sad way to start off the new year but thanks for all those concerned about me.
The videos below might be a little graphic but the press here takes the old saying that “if it bleeds it leads” more literally then we do in the West.
Videos submitted to YouTube. Some amateur stuff shot on cell phones so very much in the moment of when things happened.
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Hi, my name is Bill Rini and this is my poker blog. I've been blogging about poker and the poker industry since around 2003-ish. Like most people I started out playing poker as entertainment in home games whenever we wanted to sit around and smoke cigars, drink beer, and eat pizza, and needed a good excuse. I started playing online shortly after the first online card rooms opened and it wasn't long before I was playing 20, 30, or even 40 hours a week or more. One day I received a phone call about a program manager position at Tiltware which was the company that consulted to Full Tilt Poker on software development and marketing. After Tiltware I spent about 2.5 years working at Party Poker where I was the poker room manager.
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