The 51-year-old furniture shop owner, Mrs Janhom Jakkaew, jumped out from the second floor and broke her arm and leg. She is currently in Bangkok Hospital receiving treatment.
At about 8am Saturday morning (August 2) Gov Maitri Inthusut, along with Pol Maj Gen Krajang Suwannarat, Deputy Commander from Police Region 8, and rescue workers from Kusoldharn Foundation surveyed the damage at 8am.
After questioning relatives and checking through the wreckage, police learned that the dead three of the dead individuals were part of the owner's family and sleeping in the third floor when the fire began.
The dead include:
Mr Mongkon Ruanchai, 43 – shop manager
Mrs Nutjaree Saengprakone, 43, wife of shop manager
Teerawut Ruanchai, 10 – adopted son of the owner
Ms Chatchaya Kanpat, 59, friend of the owners
On the night, Mr Mongkon, Mrs Nutjaree and the boy were embracing each other on the bed during the blaze.
The building, which sits on Srisutthat Rd, had been rented by Mrs Janhom for 10 years. She assigned her family member, Mr Mongkon, who lived in Ranong, to come and check the inventory of the furniture shop once a month.
Every time he came, he would come with his family and stayed on the third floor.
Mrs Rofia Ninsawit, 44, the sister-in-law of the shop owner, told police that the fire happened when everyone was sleeping on the third floor of the building. Mrs Janhom woke up because she smelled the smoke and tried to call everyone, telling them to find a way out.
Mrs Janhom decided to hit the glass window on the second floor in order to see out and thought someone was following her to safety so she jumped. A police officer just outside the building said he heard someone shouting from the building and saw fire, which is when firefighters were called.
Police are still investigating the exact cause and origin of the large blaze.
The fire is the biggest in Phuket since the Tiger Bar and Disco complex on Patong's Bangla Rd. took the lives of four people and injured 11 others back in August 2012.
That blaze was initially reported to have started because of an explosion on the electrical transformer just outside the establishment. The owners of the famed club were charged with negligence.