Three people are dead after jumping from the upper floors of a burning hotel tower in a desperate bid to escape the inferno.
Victims leaped from the building as flames ripped through the hotel attached to Bangkok's CentralWorld, one of the world's biggest shopping centres, according to reports.
Dramatic footage shows a massive fireball shooting out of the tower when something inside exploded.
A massive cloud of black smoke billowed into the sky after the inferno started on the hotel's eighth floor.
There were scenes of panic as thousands of people were evacuated from the complex in Bangkok’s central shopping district as fire crews tries to tackle the blaze.
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Wednesday afternoon's fire broke at the Centara Grand Hotel, located next to the CentralWorld shopping centre, broke out in a storage room filled with paper, said police.
Plumes of black smoke were visible for miles in the Thai capital.
Firefighters said two people jumped from the hotel to escape the flames.
One, a man, died at the scene. He is said to have jumped from the sixth floor.
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The second person was in a critical condition in hospital.
A police officer who rushed to the scene was treated for smoke inhalation.
Smoke began to fill the lowers floors as the fire spread and the complex was evacuated and temporarily shut down.
The fire was reported at about 5pm and brought under control more than an hour later.
A local police chief told Khaosod the fire broke out in a document storage room on the eighth floor of the hotel.
Stacks of paper inside the room helped to fuel the fire.
Centara Grand Hotel is the flagship hotel of CentralWorld, the 11th largest shopping complex in the world.
Originally called the World Trade Center, the complex also includes an office tower.
The name was changed to CentralWorld in 2002, just months after New York's World Trade Center was destroyed in the September 11 terror attacks.
In 2010, it was set on fire when an anti-government protesters were forcibly removed by authorities during political demonstrations.
Part of the building was closed for months afterwards for renovations.
The cause of Wednesday's fire was under investigation.
