POIPET: No less than 19 individuals were killed and up to 30 were absent after a colossal fire tore through a club inn complex in a Cambodian town on the Thai line, authorities said on Thursday.
When the fire broke out around midnight, 400 employees and guests were inside the Grand Diamond City casino and hotel in the town of Poipet. Up to 30 people are still missing.
The head of the provincial information department for Banteay Meanchey, Sek Sokhom, stated, "The number of deaths may reach more than 20."
He stated that sixty people had been injured.
By Thursday afternoon, the fire was under control, and a crew entering a smoke-filled corridor donned fire-resistant hoods and respirator masks in a building's fire escape stairwell.
A spokesperson for the interior ministry, Khieu Sopheak, had previously stated that the number of individuals remaining inside the charred building was unknown.
He added, "We don't know how many are trapped inside, and now we are only trying to save lives," and that the fire's cause was still a mystery.
Casinos in Phnom Penh, the capital, and on the borders with Vietnam and Thailand are a draw for visitors from Asian nations that prohibit gambling. They are an important part of Cambodia's tourism industry and its economy.
Because gambling is against the law and there are no licensed casinos in the neighboring country, Poipet's casinos draw a lot of short-term Thai tourists.
Somewhere around 25 individuals were being treated in emergency clinics in Sa Kaeo region across the line, Thai specialists said.
70% of those affected showed signs of smoke inhalation, according to provincial authorities, and one Thai national had passed away in a hospital.
According to the Cambodian police, hundreds of members of the military, police, and rescue teams had joined the effort to rescue people.
The building was engulfed in flames and thick clouds of smoke during the night, as captured on video.
In addition, it showed people huddled together with firefighters at a rooftop bar in the daylight, shielding their mouths from the smoke coming from the doors and windows of lower floors.