Bangkok fire kills 60 New Year clubbers

Bangkok At least 60 people killed, including many foreigners, and more than 200 injured when a fierce fire ripped through a popular nightclub in Thailand's capital Bangkok early Thursday morning.

The blaze broke out at the famous Santika Club, frequented by both locals and tourists, in Ekkamai area after a pyrotechnic display ignited the second floor ceiling largely made of soundproofing material, reports said.

A number of foreigners, mainly Asians, were among the casualties from the blaze that erupted shortly after midnight at the club, police said.

Nearly 10 foreigners, including from Australia, the Netherlands, Nepal and Japan, were reported to be killed during the stampede to get out of the club from burns, smoke inhalation and injuries during the incident, they said adding, around 30 bodies were charred beyond recognition.

According to some reports, the fire could have started from the short circuiting of pyrotechnics used by the music band entertaining the crowd on the stage.

However, the Website of The Nation newspaper quoted one partygoer, Somchai Frendi, as saying the blaze was caused by the countdown fireworks that ignited the second floor ceiling, which was made largely of soundproofing material.

The Sankita club was in the process of moving to another premises soon and the New Year's party was to bid farewell to 2008 as well as the old premises and security arrangements here were not full proof.

The police said that the two-storey club, where over 1000 people were present at the time of the incident, was completely gutted by the fire with the front of the building blackened and partially collapsed.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva visited the still-smoldering club but did not talk to reporters.

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New Year Bonanza for Armed Forces

New Delhi In a major New year bonanza for the armed forces, the Prime Minister's Office has informed the Defence Ministry that the armed forces personnel would henceforth have a separate pay commission, which is delinked from the civilian pay panel.

In a communication to the Defence Ministry the PMO also granted the demand for placing 12,000 odd Lieutenant Colonels under equivalence in Navy and Air Force in the pay band four of the sixth central pay commission.

However, the PMO, which considered the recommendations of the ministerial committee headed by External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, said that the pay band four status with a grade pay of Rs 8000 would be accorded to Lieutenant Colonels who were performing a combat role or were ready for combat.

Those Lieutenant Colonels on deputation to other services would receive the pay band four status only when they return to their parent service.

Another demand accepted by the PMO concerned the jawans, for whom the government would restore the 70 per cent pensionary weightage.

Till the government implements the sixth pay commission's recommendations for allowing retired armed forces personnel's lateral entry into paramilitary and central police forces, the 70 per cent weightage would continue.

The present PMO communication, sent to the Defence Ministry in the last week of December, however, is silent on the two other core demands of the armed forces: placing the Lieutenant Generals in the higher administrative grade plus pay scales and bringing grade pay of officers from Captains to Brigadiers on par with their civilian counterparts.

But, conceding to the Defence personnel's demand the PMO said it would set up a high powered committee to review the command and control functions, and the status of the armed forces vis-a-vis that of their civilian and paramilitary counterparts.

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