Search for loved ones continues in the rubble

The place no longer has flashing lights, nor a pulsing music beat. No food and drinks are on sale, nor are well-dressed pub-goers milling around.

The fire-ravaged Santika pub is crowded with people taking photos of the building where dozens of partygoers died. Some people hang around for hours hoping to witness a supernatural incident. PAWAT LAOPAISARNTAKSIN

There is only a church-like white building with broken windows and black smoke stains, surrounded by piles of burnt items.

This is what is left of Santika pub in soi Ekamai - which large crowds have visited every day since the New Year fire tragedy that has killed 62 people and injured over 240 party-goers since Thursday.

Giant Christmas trees once stood at the pub entrance. In their place are ugly, naked steel structures.

High-heel shoes, brand-name sneakers, and clothes lie scattered outside the entrance along with discarded rubber gloves which rescuers wore when they carried charred corpses and injured people out of the blazing building.

The smell of burnt materials and joss-stick smoke hangs in the air.

It is an unpleasant scene, but hundreds of people nonetheless visit the place each day.

They come for different reasons - searching for the bodies of loved ones, making food offerings and praying for the spirits of those who died in the tragedy. Some even come in the hope of seeing ghosts.

The Khumphol family is making daily visits, hoping that forensic workers would find the body of 25-year-old Patcharee, a sales official for an oil company, who joined the "Goodbye Santika" party at the pub with her Singaporean boyfriend.

Nongphan Khumphol, Patcharee's mother, said her daughter's name was neither on the patient nor victim lists.

She believed her body might still be in the rubble. Mrs Nongphan and her husband visit the place for hours each day.

When police and forensic officers arrive, they ask them to look for Patcharee inside the building.

According to her boyfriend, the couple left the pub after the countdown finished, but Patcharee went back to go to the restroom.

Patcharee Khumphol, a Santika pub fire victim. Patcharee’s mother has been carrying this picture while searching for the body of her daughter. KOSOL NAKACHOL

The family's wait ended last night when Chulalongkorn hospital informed them that a DNA test had confirmed the identity of one of the five female bodies kept at the hospital as that of Patcharee.

Some families have even taken the bodies of their loved ones back to the pub for a ritual to reunite their body and soul.

Chester Chavez Pankaew, 25, took the body of his sister, Chalaika, to the pub for the ritual, before cremating her at a temple. Flight attendant Chalaika, a Thai-Filipino, joined the countdown party with seven friends. Four of them, including her, died in the fire.

The pub's parking lot has now turned into a mourning ground with tables for mourners to place food, drinks, and flowers for the victims.

Chomyong Nontawong, who lives at an apartment next to the pub, also came to pay her respects to the dead as she felt uncomfortable living close to the tragic site.

Somying Srisakae placed a floral bouquet on the table and prayed for the victims. It was the second time she had visited the place.

"None of my friends or relatives died in the tragedy, but I feel sorry for the victims. I feel like they are my relatives and want them to rest in peace," she said. Youngsters searching for a haunting experience make up a large number of night visitors to the pub.

They take photos of the building with digital cameras and show them to each other if any mysterious objects turn up in the background.

Some just hang about the place waiting to witness supernatural events.

A Thong Lor police officer said many people visit the site at night, but they are not allowed to enter the building. The pub has been declared off-limits.

Only police, who guard the site round the clock, and a security guard from a private security firm hired by the pub operator are allowed to get inside at night.

The security guard said some partly damaged valuable items were still inside the pub, including computers, audio devices, and furniture.