New Delhi, July 13 -- BANGKOK - When firefighters reached the Na Ladprao pub just after midnight on Sunday, they found 27 people dead, many of them in the restrooms at the back of the building. The blaze had spread fast enough that escape from the rear was not an option for all who tried.

Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who addressed reporters after the fire was extinguished, said the sequence began on stage. A musician performing at the time told investigators he noticed smoke rising from a circuit breaker near the stage, then the power went out, then he heard an explosion, and then thick smoke moved through the pub quickly enough that the room was already dark when people began running.

Sixty-three others were taken to ...