Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Cambodian casino fire kills 19, dozens more feared dead

Published 12/29/2022, 07:42 AM
Updated 12/29/2022, 10:12 AM
© Reuters. Smoke and fire rise from buildings after a fire incident at the Grand Diamond Casino, in Poipet, Banteay Meanchhey Province, Cambodia, in this still image taken from a social media obtained on December 29, 2022. Facebook/Chaeam Noosung/via REUTERS

© Reuters. Smoke and fire rise from buildings after a fire incident at the Grand Diamond Casino, in Poipet, Banteay Meanchhey Province, Cambodia, in this still image taken from a social media obtained on December 29, 2022. Facebook/Chaeam Noosung/via REUTERS

By Kwang Jiraporn Kuhakan

POIPET, Cambodia (Reuters) -At least 19 people, many of them Thais, were killed and up to 30 were missing after a fire tore through a casino-hotel complex in a Cambodian town on the Thai border, officials said on Thursday.

About 400 employees and patrons were in the Grand Diamond City casino and hotel in the town of Poipet when the fire broke out around midnight, leaving the building charred and gutted by Thursday afternoon.

Cambodian police said hundreds of military, police and volunteer rescue personnel had joined the rescue effort, which was suspended at nightfall given the risk the building might collapse.

Sek Sokhom, head of the Banteay Meanchey provincial information department, said the number of deaths could exceed 20, with 60 people injured. The Cambodian government has set up a committee to investigate the cause of the fire, which remained unclear, he said.

A key part of Cambodia's tourism industry, casinos in the capital of Phnom Penh and on the borders with Vietnam and Thailand are a draw for visitors from Asian nations that ban gambling.

Those in Poipet are hugely popular with short-term Thai visitors as gambling is illegal across the border and unlicensed casinos operate underground there. Many of the victims were Thai nationals, rescue workers said.

"(The deceased) that we found are Thais, as their IDs show. The bodies now have to be identified," said 53-year-old rescue worker Somboon Kwanoum.

Video footage showed the fire under control by Thursday afternoon and a crew in a fire escape stairwell of the building putting on respirator masks and fire-resistant hoods before entering a smoke-filled corridor.

Punnawat Promsri, 40, said her Thai relative died trying to help two women escape the fire.

“Max stayed behind to help one woman and a pregnant woman escape," she told Reuters. "I saw from a video clip, I think it was him. He hung on to a rope attached to a fire basket and it broke. He didn't die from fire or smoke.”

© Reuters. Smoke rises from part of the Grand Diamond City hotel-casino, as Thai and Cambodian rescuers struggle to extricate dozens of people feared trapped after a fire broke, killing at least 10 and injuring dozens in Poipet near Thailand border, Cambodia, December 29, 2022. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

Crowds of onlookers had gathered nearby during the day and ambulances rushed to and from the scene as bodies were pulled from the smouldering ruins of the building, according to Reuters witnesses and footage broadcast on local news.

Dozens were being treated in hospitals in Sa Kaeo province across the border, where Thai provincial authorities said one Thai national had died in hospital and 70% of those affected showed symptoms of smoke inhalation.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.