At 11:40pm, Kathu police were called to the scene of a fire which had broken out on the top floor of the four storey Rico Hotel on soi Bangla in Patong. Police arrived at the scene together with three fire trucks from Patong Municipality. It took firefighters 20 minutes to put the fire out.
Once out, it was found that the fire had destroyed the entire contents of one room, but no guests or staff were injured.
When questioned by police, witnesses said that the room which had been destroyed was rented out to a Marissa Dermtamrom who was not in the room at the time.
Police believe that an electrical short circuit was to blame for the fire but will gather more information to find the true cause and get an estimation for the cost of the damage.
Kathu Superintendent, Col Chaiwat Uikum and his team arrived shortly after the fire had been put out to further investigate the cause of the fire. By this time Ms Dermtamrom had returned to the hotel and was taken to the police station for questioning.