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The fire of a casino in Cambodia causes at least 25 deaths

2022-12-30T14:15:22.504Z


The death toll could rise as firefighters continue to search the Grand Diamond City complex room by room


At least 25 people have died and dozens have been injured during a fire at a hotel-casino in the Cambodian city of Poipet, about 200 meters from the border with Thailand, according to Sek Sokhom, director of the provincial information department of the province of Banteay Meanchey.

The balance of victims on Thursday was 19 deaths, to which is added the recovery of six bodies inside the building this Friday, Sokhom indicated according to the Cambodian edition of the Voice of America news portal.

That death toll could rise because firefighters and emergency crews have not yet finished searching the Grand Diamond City complex, which was engulfed in flames early Thursday, searching for an unknown number of missing.

The corridors of the complex are completely charred by the flames and emergency teams have to go room by room, in some cases opening the doors by force, according to videos posted on social networks by rescuers.

According to the Cambodian authorities, the fire started on Wednesday around 11:30 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. in mainland Spain) in the Grand Diamond City complex and it took more than nine hours to fully control the flames.

The Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, who expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased on Friday, specified that at the time of the incident there were some 1,000 people inside the complex, including some 500 workers.

The fire, for which the cause is currently unknown, started in the casino and quickly spread through the building until it crossed the hotel wing via a walkway.

The violence with which the flames spread made it difficult to evacuate and extinguish tasks, in which emergency teams and firefighters from neighboring Thailand came to participate.

Some of the bodies were found in rooms and others on the stairs that connect the 17-story hotel.

The search mission resumed this morning after being temporarily suspended on Thursday night due to fears of part of the building collapsing and due to a lack of light.

Firefighters braved harsh conditions and used oxygen canisters to breathe.

In videos published on social networks by witnesses, a group of people trapped on the roof of the building can be seen, some of whom jumped into the void to avoid the flames.

In these images, others affected are seen trying to descend from the windows of the building hanging from tied sheets and by emergency stairs.

Rescue teams had to use helicopters to evacuate dozens of people who had taken refuge on the roof.

The scenes of the fire in Poipet are reminiscent of similar incidents such as the fire in August in a nightclub in Thailand, where 26 people died, or the flames that consumed a karaoke in Vietnam, which left 32 deaths.

Poipet, a key city on the route that connects the Cambodian tourist city of Siem Reap and the Thai capital, is famous for the dozen casinos that are located near the border with Thailand, where gambling is illegal.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-12-30

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