Skip to Content Facebook Feature Image

A look at some of the deadliest fires in bars, nightclubs and music venues

News

A look at some of the deadliest fires in bars, nightclubs and music venues
News

News

A look at some of the deadliest fires in bars, nightclubs and music venues

2026-07-13 15:25 Last Updated At:15:30

A fire at a beer hall in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, killed at least 27 people and injured dozens, prompting an investigation into its cause and the factors contributing to the casualties, including whether any emergency exits may have been obstructed.

The blaze at Na Ladprao bar in northern Bangkok is one of the deadliest club fires in Thailand since 2009, when 67 people died in a fire at a nightclub on New Year's Day.

More Images
FILE - Firefighters and emergency teams work in the aftermath of a fire that broke out during day time in a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

FILE - Firefighters and emergency teams work in the aftermath of a fire that broke out during day time in a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

FILE - The charred interior of a nightclub, which caught fire early Sunday, is seen in Arpora, in Goa, India, on Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - The charred interior of a nightclub, which caught fire early Sunday, is seen in Arpora, in Goa, India, on Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - People mourn behind flowers and letters near the sealed off Le Constellation bar, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, on Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

FILE - People mourn behind flowers and letters near the sealed off Le Constellation bar, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, on Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

FILE - A firefighter inspects a nightclub after a massive fire in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, on March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski, File)

FILE - A firefighter inspects a nightclub after a massive fire in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, on March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski, File)

A forensic police officer inspects the site of a fire in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A forensic police officer inspects the site of a fire in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Forensic police officers inspect the site of a fire in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Forensic police officers inspect the site of a fire in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Here is a look at some other nightclub, bar and music venue fires that have led to significant death tolls:

— January 2026: A fire at a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana in the early hours of New Year’s Day left 41 people dead and over 100 injured.

— December 2025: A fire ripped through a popular nightclub in Arpora village, in India’s Goa state, killing 25 people including kitchen workers and tourists.

— March 2025: A fire and ensuing stampede at the crowded Pulse club in Kocani, North Macedonia, killed 63 people, most of them young revelers, and injured more than 200. It was set off by a pyrotechnic flame that engulfed the roof of the club.

— April 2024: A blaze at the Masquerade nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey trapped workers and employees while the venue was closed for renovations, leaving 29 people dead. It was located on the ground and basement floors of a 16-story residential building.

— October 2023: A fire that started at a nightclub in the southeastern Spanish city of Murcia and spread to two other clubs left 13 people dead.

— January 2022: A nightclub in Sorong, in Indonesia’s West Papua province, burned after two groups attacked each other inside the building. Nineteen people were killed.

— January 2022: A blaze at Liv’s Nightclub Yaouba in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, set off explosions that killed 17 people. The government linked the blaze to fireworks.

— December 2016: A fire broke out at a warehouse in Oakland, California that had been converted into a residence and event space for artists dubbed the “Ghost Ship,” killing 36 people. The blaze, which broke out during an electronic music and dance party, moved so quickly that victims were trapped on the illegally constructed second floor.

— October 2015: A blaze that broke out during a rock band’s pyrotechnics display at the Colectiv nightclub in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, killed 64 people and left some 190 injured.

— January 2013: A fire killed more than 200 people at the Kiss nightclub in the city of Santa Maria in southern Brazil. Investigators said soundproofing foam on the ceiling caught fire and released poisonous gases that quickly killed those attending a university party.

— December 2009: Some 152 people died when a blaze broke out at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia. It started when an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling decorated with branches.

— January 2009: An indoor fireworks display after a New Year’s countdown ignited a blaze in the Santika club in Bangkok, Thailand, killing 67 people and injuring many more. Victims died from burns, smoke inhalation and being crushed.

— September 2008: A fire killed 44 people at the jammed King of Dancers nightclub in Shenzhen, China, when a stampede broke out after a fireworks show ignited the ceiling.

— December 2004: In Buenos Aires, Argentina, a fire killed 194 people at the crowded Cromagnon Republic club after a flare ignited ceiling foam. Club owner Omar Chaban was sentenced to 20 years in prison for causing the deadly fire and for bribery. Others received lighter sentences.

— February 2003: A fire at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, in the United States, killed 100 people and injured more than 200 others. Fireworks being used by the band set fire to flammable foam inside the club.

— January 2001: A fire at a cafe in the Dutch town of Volendam where people were celebrating the New Year killed 14 people and injured more than 200.

— December 2000: A fire that was blamed on a welding accident killed 309 people at a disco in the central Chinese city of Luoyang.

FILE - Firefighters and emergency teams work in the aftermath of a fire that broke out during day time in a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

FILE - Firefighters and emergency teams work in the aftermath of a fire that broke out during day time in a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

FILE - The charred interior of a nightclub, which caught fire early Sunday, is seen in Arpora, in Goa, India, on Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - The charred interior of a nightclub, which caught fire early Sunday, is seen in Arpora, in Goa, India, on Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - People mourn behind flowers and letters near the sealed off Le Constellation bar, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, on Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

FILE - People mourn behind flowers and letters near the sealed off Le Constellation bar, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, on Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

FILE - A firefighter inspects a nightclub after a massive fire in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, on March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski, File)

FILE - A firefighter inspects a nightclub after a massive fire in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, on March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski, File)

A forensic police officer inspects the site of a fire in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A forensic police officer inspects the site of a fire in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Forensic police officers inspect the site of a fire in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Forensic police officers inspect the site of a fire in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States and Iran each asserted Monday they controlled the Strait of Hormuz after a weekend of attacks stretching across the wider Middle East, further threatening any diplomacy to end the war.

The attacks, sparked by Iran striking a container ship Sunday in the strait off the coast of Oman, again underlined that the waterway that once saw a fifth of the world's traded crude oil and natural gas pass through it remained the key issue in negotiations. The narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf has seen shipping disrupted since the start of the war as Iran maintained a chokehold on it by attacking commercial vessels around it, intimidating shippers.

Iran and the U.S. are nearly at the midway point of the 60-day period of an interim deal that was supposed to set up talks for a permanent end to the war. Instead, it has devolved into a series of attacks over the strait and its future, worrying world leaders the Iran war fully could resume.

“A return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.

The U.S. military’s Central Command described its forces as hitting dozens of sites in the strikes Monday, including air defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment and small boats.

“The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade,” Central Command said. “Iran does not control it.”

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a key power center in the country's theocracy that controls its ballistic missile arsenal, sharply rejected America's statement.

“The Strait of Hormuz is our territory, and we will not allow a rogue and child-killing army from the other side of the world to continue its illegal interference in it,” the Guard said.

Missile alert sirens sounded three times Monday in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait said it was intercepting hostile fire. There was no immediate word on damage in either country.

In Jordan, the kingdom's military said it shot down four Iranian missiles in an incident that "resulted in zero casualties or material damage.” Jordan also hosts U.S. military forces and aircraft.

In Iran, authorities reported attacks in Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Markazi provinces and at least two people were killed, according to state-run IRNA news agency. Semiofficial Iranian media also reported strikes on Sistan and Baluchestan province as well.

Iranian attacks on Sunday stretched Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and even Oman — whose territorial waters with Iran make up the strait. Oman, which long has been an interlocutor between Tehran and the West, summoned an Iranian diplomat to criticize the attack.

Meanwhile Monday, a base belonging to the armed wing of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, an Iranian Kurdish opposition group based in Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdistan region, came under drone attack. Rebaz Sharifi, commander of the Kurdistan Militia Corps, said the strikes targeted the group’s Chamshar base, without giving details on casualties or damage. No group immediately claimed responsibility.

The U.S. military early Sunday said it hit some 140 targets, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites — a far-heavier set of attacks than in two previous rounds of strikes in the last week.

“We bombed the hell out of them last night,” U.S. President Donald Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Iran retaliated by attacking nations in the region hosting U.S. military forces, while insisting it alone must control the strait and potentially charge vessels for traveling through it.

“The era of one-sided deals is OVER,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament and a main negotiator, wrote. “We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”

Iran described the strait as being closed, while the U.S. military and Trump asserted that the strait remained open.

Iran’s chokehold on the strait, however, has loosened as the U.S. military provided support to vessels moving along a southern route hugging the coastline of Oman. That new route has angered Iran, which launched repeated attacks on ships using it.

Iran’s grip on the strait led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the war was “over.” But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war.

A regional official involved in mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss talks, said efforts to shore up the ceasefire continued Sunday. Pakistan said its foreign minister spoke by phone with Iran’s top diplomat and urged “de-escalation” on both sides.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, unseen since the war began, on Saturday vowed in his first statement since the funeral of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that Iranians would avenge his killing.

Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Stella Martany in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.

A group of people stands in shallow water as a cargo ship appears anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

A group of people stands in shallow water as a cargo ship appears anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

Commercial vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

Commercial vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

Recommended Articles