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STORY: Over a thousand exotic animals have perished in a market fire in Thailand.

The blaze ripped through almost 14,000 square feet of the Chatuchak market in the early hours of Tuesday (June 11).

It is a popular tourist attraction best known for its packed shops full of fashion and accessories.

Exotic animals such as snakes, spiders, and Siamese fighting fish were also sold in the market, attracting thousands of visitors each weekend.

Adisak says the snakes he sold were trapped in their boxes and couldn’t escape.

Suwannee Sangdee who sells Siamese fighting fish says her shop was the family's main source of income.

"Since I learned the news when I got the call, I have been in shock. I feel like I wanted to cry but there are no tears. I don't know how to react as the school is about to start, then there's the mortgage and the car installments. The earnings from running the shop, raising the betta fish, and exporting them were used to pay for all these things. I have to try to keep myself sane and work out how I'm going to sort out my finances. I also don't know how we will be compensated, will they find a new place for us? We're totally blank. Like, this month, we've paid the rent but we don't know what's going to happen next month with no place to sell."

Firefighters and rescue workers picked through carcasses, mangled cages, blackened walls, and collapsed metal shop roofs.

More than a hundred shops were burnt down, according to police.

They said an initial inspection suggested that the fire was caused by an electrical fault.