A fire at a casino complex at Cambodia's border with Thailand has killed 10 people, with more than 50 injured. Several photos and videos posted on social media show people desperately huddled on ledges and hanging out of windows in a bid to escape. More than a dozen people are on life support, according to news agency AFP.
The fire at Grand Diamond City hotel-casino in Poipet, on the Thailand border, started just before midnight on Wednesday, according to the police. Around 400 people were in the building when it caught fire, the police further said.
ที่นั่น..#ปอยเปต
— ตะละแม่บุษบง (@MY_1428_V2) December 28, 2022
23:10น. เหตุไฟไหม้
ในส่วนห้องครัวชั้นล่างของ Grand Diamond City Casino &Resort น่าจะไฟฟ้าลัดวงจร ลามถึงชั้นบน เกิดกลุ่มควันไฟชั้นบน นักพนันหนีตายกันอลหม่าน บางคนยังติดอยู่ชั้นบน สำลักควันกัน ขอความช่วยเหลืออยู่ ขอให้ปลอดภัยทุกๆคน #กัมพูชา#โหนกระแส pic.twitter.com/Cg76a96Zo1
One of the videos shows people plunging to the ground below after jumping from the building in a desperate bid to escape. Those people were stuck on the fifth floor, as per a report in Metro.
The exact cause of the fire is still not known, the outlet further said.
A huge hotel is on fire in #Cambodia.
— Taiwan & Rising S Company 🇺🇸🇹🇼🇺🇦 (@RisingSC_taiwan) December 29, 2022
Some employees and residents of the hotel jumped out of the windows to escape. At least 5 guests escaped by jumping from the fifth floor. There are still people inside.
It all happened because of the gas tank explosion in the hotel's casino. pic.twitter.com/BWa8kMMwHX
Sky News spoke to John Sagun who works at the Holiday Palace Hotel, which is behind the Grand Diamond City Casino.
He said he had initially thought the building of his hotel was on fire but later got to know that the blaze broke out in the neighbouring building.
"At around 2-3am my boss told me to evacuate our staff and then I left the office to see what had happened. When I was outside, I was shocked to see it burning," he said.
The man also claimed that 40 to 50 people were trapped on the 17th floor of the casino, which has a sky bar called G360.
#BanteayMeanchey #Cambodia🇰🇭- Several people seen attempting to escape burning building at the Grand Diamond City Hotel & Casino in #Poipet near the #Thailand🇹🇭border checkpoint, amid large fire (📹linjie239) pic.twitter.com/ZCKbIACB3Z
— CyclistAnons🚲 (@CyclistAnons) December 29, 2022
Authorities in neighbouring Thai province of Sa Kaeo said more than 50 people have been hospitalized there.
A Thai foreign ministry source told news agency AFP that they had been coordinating closely with local authorities, "including by sending in firetrucks from the Thai side".
The citizens of Cambodia are officially barred from gambling in its casinos. There are numerous hotel-casinos clustered along the Thai border, with Poipet a popular holiday destination for visitors from Thailand, where most forms of gambling are also illegal.
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