Fridae

Babylon Sauna on South Sathorn Road was closed after it was damaged in a fire that engulfed the Suan Plu Pattana community, a densely populated housing area and surrounding buildings, which also required evacuation to the city's Immigration Bureau, the Immigration Detention Centre, a police station, hundreds of homes and police flats.

The sauna, which includes a multi-storied hotel, remained close over the weekend after the massive fire last Friday due to "minor damage from smoke, water and heat" but may reopen this week, reported dragoncastle.net, a Thai gay web site.

Although no casualties have been officially reported, the fire consumed some 700 wooden houses and left up to 4000 people homeless. The government will provide temporary shelters and provide financial aid who had been made homeless by the blaze. The fire, which spewed thick smoke over several embassies and luxury hotels are in the area but not the immediate vicinity, raged out of control for about four hours as the narrow access prevented fire vehicles entering the slum.

According to The Nation newspaper, Bangkok police have determined the household from which the fire originated but have not determined the cause of the fire. A spokesman said that police would determine whether any of the house's three occupants had been reckless and would be held responsible if were found to be so.