Raging fire envelops Bangkok slum and destroys 700 homes

[dArKeR]

AFP , BANGKOK
Saturday, Apr 24, 2004,Page 5

Firefighters battle to control a violent fire in a slum area in Bangkok yesterday. The fire engulfed hundreds of wooden houses in the Tungmahamek slum area, home to about 7,000 people, just behind Thailand's Immigration Department, and threatened to spread beyond the congested region as strong winds fanned the flames.
PHOTO: AFP

A huge fire raged out of control through a densely populated slum area in central Bangkok yesterday, with hundreds of firefighters battling the blaze near the Australian and German embassies and several luxury hotels, officials and witnesses said.

The fire engulfed up to 700 wooden houses in the Tungmahamek slum area, home to about 7,000 people behind Bangkok's Sathorn business district, and threatened to spread beyond the congested region as strong winds fanned the flames.

A large plume of black smoke was seen from several kilometers away rising hundreds of meters into the air.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/04/24/2003137905

Taipei Times, one of the best, honest, moral... news sources in the world, it's disgraceful you use the word 'slum'. Please tell me what a slum is? Is it a place where human beings, children, infants live? Does this place deserve such a vulgar word? Would these people work any job in the world if given the opportunity?

[aquart]

1. 700. There's that number again.