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The fireplace of Cambodia’s hotel-casino was possibly due to New Year’s Christmas decorations that were powered by too much electricity.
The death toll rises after a hotel chimney in Cambodia. The fireplace in the casino complex was probably due to decorations that draw electricity.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The search for bodies in the rubble of a burning hotel and casino in western Cambodia has killed 26 people, a senior official said Friday.
Banteay Melanchey Province Gov. Um Reatrey told The Associated Press by phone that after 39 hours of rescue and search operations, there were also 57 injured survivors from Wednesday night’s chimney at the Grand Diamond City casino and hotel in the city of Poipet.
Seventeen of the dead came from Thailand, one from Nepal, one from Malaysia and one from China, and six bodies have still been identified, he said.
The Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province, across the border from Poipet, said there were 27 deaths, 26 in Cambodia and one in a Thai hospital. He said that of the other 112 people injured, 27 remained in hospital. and 85 returned home.
Thailand, which provided firefighting and rescue assistance, where many of the injured were taken for treatment. Thais constituted a giant component of the visitors and workers of the casino complex.
Searchers did not locate any new bodies Friday afternoon at the disaster site, and more were expected to be dead.
The Grand Diamond City resort’s chimney expired Wednesday night and went out more than 12 hours after Thursday afternoon.
The Grand Diamond City casino complex has 500 workers and 1,000 visitors on Wednesday, according to a report by Soth Kimkolmony, spokesman for Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management. It is known how many were available when the fire broke out and how many managed to flee. to safety.
Many of the wounded had been transported across the border for repair in neighboring Thailand. This, along with chaotic rescue efforts, has made it difficult to unload an exact death toll.
Thai and Cambodian rescue groups worked side-by-side to search for the two-building complex. Gov. Um Reatrey said 1,009 members from Cambodia and 221 from Thailand helped in the search efforts.
Thailand’s Ruamkatanyu Foundation, a social welfare organization that sends volunteers into crisis situations, said Friday that the search operation at the casino’s main 17-story construction is over and its teams are taking off. 6-story component of the complex because it is too dangerous.
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An initial investigation found that the fireplace was possibly due to New Year’s Christmas decorations that were powered by too much electricity, leading to overheating and burning of wires, the local government said.
Khmer Times, a Cambodian English-language news site, quoted the governor of the city of Poipet, Keat Hul, describing the chaos when the chimney burst.
“Hotel and casino workers used fireplace extinguishers to avoid the chimney, but to no avail. People were terrified and running, but more commonly to the nearest exit,” he said. “I was told there was a stampede on the main front like black smoke. “went up through the building. “
He cited that he believed many deaths were due to smoke inhalation and that some other people died when they jumped from high to escape the flames.
Poipet in western Cambodia is a cross-border industry and tourism off the city of Aranyaprathet in more prosperous Thailand.
Casinos are illegal in Thaïlande. De many neighboring Thai countries, such as Cambodia, a popular tourist destination with convenient foreign connections, can be gambled. Poipet has more than a dozen casinos.
Grand Diamond City Casino is a short walk from the border checkpoint with Thailand and is popular with visitors making the four-hour trip from the Thai capital, Bangkok.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen made his first public comments on the tragedy in remarks to villagers Friday morning at a road repair rite in the southern province of Kampot.
He expressed his condolences and said the incident shows that all high-rise buildings in the country will have to have enough firefighting equipment. He also thanked everyone who worked on the rescue effort, adding those in Thailand.
Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul, editor of the Associated Press in Bangkok, contributed to this report. Sopheng Cheang reported from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
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