At least 19 people died and another 50 were injured after a fire occurred in a hotel-casino in Cambodia, near the Thai borderinformed the local police according to the new balance released by the local authorities communicated this Thursday.
“There are 19 dead at the moment. The total number of deaths could be even higher,” said Sek Sokhom, director of the information service of the Cambodian province of Banteay Mean Chey, according to the AFP news agency.
The previous balance reported at least 10 deaths and 30 injured people.
But Thai authorities in the neighboring province of Sa Kaeo said 50 victims were hospitalized there.
Prapas Pookduang, the health authority in the Thai province, told the AFP news agency that 13 people were “on life support.”
Sa Kaeo Governor Parinya Phothisat said some 60 people rescued from the fire have been tested and released from hospitals in Thailand.
At least 10 people died and another 30 were injured after a fire broke out in a hotel-casino in Cambodia, near the border with Thailand.
The complex was covered by flames and in recordings people are seen jumping from the building to escape the fire pic.twitter.com/YijGfNrSP3
– Telam Agency (@AgenciaTelam) December 29, 2022
The fire started at 11:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday (1:30 p.m. in Argentina) at the Grand Diamond City hotel-casino in Poipet, police said, adding that there were about 400 people working at the hotel at the time of the fire.
Images obtained by AFP show the huge entertainment complex completely engulfed by flames and in some recordings people can be seen jumping from the building to escape the fire.
Local media indicated that there were foreign citizens inside the casino at the time of the incident.
Governor Parinya indicated that hospitals in Thailand have treated 79 Thais, 30 Cambodians and eight Indonesians.
A volunteer from the Thai rescue group Ruamkatanyu Foundation said that the flames started on the first floor, but quickly spread due to the carpeting in the building.