At least 19 people on Wednesday died in a fire at a hotel-casino in Cambodia on the border with Thailand, with photographs showing groups desperately huddled on ledges as fierce flames surround them.
The massive blaze lasted more than 12 hours, with about 50 people reported injured, while others were apparently not yet accounted for as of yesterday.
“The fire was massive, and was inside the casino, so it was difficult for our water cannons to reach it,” a firefighter said on a video posted online.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The blaze at the Grand Diamond City hotel-casino in Poipet broke out at about 11:30pm on Wednesday, Cambodian police said.
Images showed the building consumed by flames, with firefighters struggling to contain the intense blaze and rescuers attempting to pluck people from a burning ledge.
In one clip, an unidentified man is seen sitting on a window ledge as smoke billows from the window behind him. In another, a group of people huddles on a ledge as flames near them.
Photo: AFP
In the video, which was posted by Cambodia’s firefighting agency, onlookers could be heard shouting pleas to rescue people trapped on the roof of the hotel complex, which is more than a dozen stories tall at its highest point.
The video showed at least one man falling as the flames reached the roof.
“Oh, please help rescue them. Pump water, pump water,” onlookers shouted.
Photo: AFP
Local media reported that foreign nationals were inside the casino at the time of the fire.
A Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs source said that it was coordinating closely with local authorities, with injured people transferred to hospitals in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo Province.
“The authorities have been trying to control the fire, including by sending in firetrucks from the Thai side,” the source said.
Photo: AFP
A volunteer with Thai rescue group the Ruamkatanyu Foundation said that the blaze started on the first floor, but spread quickly along the carpets, leaping up through the multistory building.
Cambodia is one of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries and its citizens are officially barred from playing in the casinos.
There are hotel-casinos clustered along the Thai-Cambodian border, with Poipet a popular holiday destination for visitors from Thailand, where most forms of gambling are illegal.
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