After learning of the fire at 9.30am, police, firefighers and rescue workers rushed to the scene – a two-storey building on Suksawat Road, where a fire had broken out on the ground floor, which was under construction.

It took an hour to bring the flames under control. An initial inspection showed the fire had damaged 500 square metres. The cause of blaze is still under investigation. The pair who succumbed to the smoke were customers at a fitness centre located above the site.

One man in sports attire, later identified as Wutthichai Tumchat, 34, was pronounced dead from smoke inhalation at Bang Pakok 3 Hospital, while four other victims were rushed to Bang Pakok 1 Hospital.

Of the four, fitness enthusiast Kiattisak Saenjittatham, 34, was later pronounced dead, while Nujaree Maenthong, 29, a clerk at the centre, is in the intensive care unit due to the seriousness of her injuries.