Family dies in house fire

A couple

and their twoyear-old son were burnt to death, with the mother still hugging their child, when a fierce fire swept through their house in Muang district of Chiang Mai shortly before dawn yesterday.

Seven fire trucks and crews battled the blaze at the two-storey house at Patan housing estate in Chang Phuek district, Pol Col Piyaphan Pattharapongsin, deputy chief of Chiang Mai police, said.

The flames spread quickly and had already engulfed the house, made of wood and concrete, when they arrived.

Neighbours said the family was were trapped in a bedroom on the second floor. The intensity of the flames kept rescuers at bay. Fire crews raced against time to douse the fire and prevent it from spreading to nearby houses, but it took them more than two hours to bring the blaze under control.

When they entered the charred remains of the house they found the three people dead in the second-floor bedroom. The mother, identified as Panida Thongkham, 28, was still hugging her two-year-old son Nawaphol. The burnt body of her husband, Bundit Thongkham, 29, was nearby, Thai media reported.

Damrong Thongkham, 61, owner of the house and Bundit’s father, said he slept on the first floor. He said he awoke to the smell of something burning and went upstairs to wake the couple, but there was no response to his knocking.

Then he looked back downstairs and saw flames spreading quickly through the house. He ran outside and neighbours called the fire service.