25 dead in Cambodia casino fire
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25 people have been killed in a fire at a Cambodian hotel-casino on the border with Thailand, according to local authorities.
Hundreds of people were in the Grand Diamond City building in the border town of Poipet when the fire started sometime just after 23:30 local time (16:30 GMT) on Wednesday.
The hotel-casino employs 400 workers and had many people from Thailand as guests. According to BBC World, many of the victims have likely been trapped on upper floors and a Thai volunteer organisation, Ruamkatanyu Foundation, said it was unlikely that they could have survived.
Video circulating on social media show people jumping or falling from the upper floors of the building.
According to CNN, Thai rescue workers said they had witnessed victims jumping to their deaths from the burning building in attempts to escape.
“Two people died immediately when they hit the ground and around four to five (others) broke their legs,” said Peerapan Srisakorn, from the Aranyaprathet Rescue Foundation.
The initial reports of the death toll was 19 dead. This number was adjusted upwards on the days following the incident.
"There are 19 dead so far as we see bodies and bones," said Sek Sokhom, director of Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey provincial information department early on, however warning that the death toll could be higher.
According to SVT.se, at least 50 people have been admitted to hospital. Another 119 people have received medical care.
More bodies found on Friday
Thai rescuers who responded to the fire said more bodies had been found trapped inside hotel rooms on Friday.
Somboon Kwan-uam, with Thailand’s Poh Teck Tung Foundation, said smoke levels in the corridors were lower Friday. Earlier in the operation, rescue efforts had been made more difficult by the smoke. Many of the victims were found dead from smoke inhalation locked inside their hotel rooms.
“We found seven more bodies from rooms on the second floor,” Somboon said.
11 fire trucks and 360 people were involved in the rescue effort.
Photo Credit (Cover photo above) Casino and street scape, Poipet, Cambodia 2012: Wikipedia Commons License. Source Own work. Author: Milei.vencel
