Alex Wargacki, a foreign exchange trader originally from London, told Times Online on Sunday, that he was lucky to be alive after being pulled unconscious from a burning nightclub in Bangkok.

Recovering in the intensive care unit of a private hospital in the Thai capital, Mr Wargacki is so hoarse from smoke inhalation that he found it difficult to speak. With burns to his face and hands, Mr Wargacki whispered that a crowd of Britons had decided to see in the New Year at the Santika nightclub.

"I was actually unconscious," he said, grimacing as he tried to speak.

"I was trying to get out the door, but there was black smoke everywhere, then I went down. I thought 'there's no way I'm getting out of this, I'm dead'. But somebody pulled me out, I don't know who."

Mr Wargacki recovered consciousness outside the club, only to witness scenes of chaos.

Now the 29-year-old, who has lived in Bangkok for the last four years, is primarily worried about the hospital bill at the expensive and very prestigious Bangkok hospital where he was taken to recuperate. He had just decided to investigate health insurance, he said, but hadn't actually taken out a policy. However a British embassy official visited him in his hospital room today and pointed out he might be eligible for some compensation, he said.

Another Briton was unconscious in a nearby room at the ICU, but Mr Wargacki said he knew nothing of his circumstances.

The fire, probably set off by fireworks, swept through the crowded Santika club shortly after revellers saw in the New Year. Witnesses said some 800 people were packed into the Santika club when they heard a loud explosion.

According to police, many of the victims died in the ensuing stampede as they tried to escape from the club, which had only one door for entry and exit. Most of the bodies were found in the basement.

Steven Hall, a self-employed contractor from South Wales who was at the club with his new Thai wife, Waranya, said it took clubbers some time before they realised the fire had taken hold.

When he saw flames begin to lick across the ceiling, he thought at first it was part of the pyrotechnics show, he said.

In hospital with third-degree burns to his left hand and a badly-burned back, Mr Hall said; "About 12.30 or 12.45, I saw flames billowing out across the ceiling.

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