Dramatic footage has emerged showing people trying to flee a massive fire that ripped through a hotel-casino overnight in Cambodia, killing at least 16, and fears the death toll will rise.
The inferno, which erupted at the Grand Diamond City casino and hotel in Poipet around midnight Wednesday, burned for about 14 hours before going out. The property is located just hundreds of feet from the country’s border with Thailand.
“Oh please help rescue them. Pump water…pump water,” onlookers were heard yelling in a video released by Cambodia’s firefighting agency. The images, according to the Associated Press, showed people trapped on the roof of the hotel complex, which is more than a dozen stories high at its highest point.
At least one man was seen to fall as the flames reached the ceiling.
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Fire burns around people on a ledge next to the Grand Diamond City casino and hotel in Poipet, Cambodia, on December 29.
(STR/AFP via Getty Images)
The Fire Prevention, Extinction and Rescue Department published that calls for help were heard from the 13th, 14th and 15th floors at 4 am, and hands were seen waving from the windows, as well as the flashlight of a mobile phone pointing from the inside the complex.
“The fire was massive and it was inside the casino, so it was difficult for our water cannons to reach it,” a firefighter observed in video posted online by the fire department.
The province’s deputy governor, Ngor Meng Chroun, told Cambodia’s Bayon Radio that the death toll had reached 16, with some 50 people injured. The death toll is likely to rise as more bodies of people trapped inside are discovered and seriously injured people succumb to their injuries.
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The Grand Diamond City hotel and casino fire lasted around 14 hours before it was put out.
(STR/AFP via Getty Images)
Banteay Meanchey Police Chief Sithi Loh said 360 emergency personnel and 11 fire trucks were dispatched to the scene of the fire, the cause of which is still unknown. The casino employed about 400 workers.
“Right now, we are trying to bring the dead bodies out of the building. I don’t think there are any survivors because of the very thick smoke. Even we (rescue personnel) have to wear proper equipment when we go in.” the building, otherwise we can’t breathe,” said Montri Khaosa-ard, a staff member at the Ruamkatanyu Foundation of Thailand, a social welfare organization that sends volunteers to emergency sites.
Thailand’s public television network, Thai PBS, reported that 50 Thais, both employees and customers, were trapped inside the casino complex. He reported that the Cambodian authorities requested help to deal with the fire from Thailand, which sent five fire trucks and 10 rescue vans.
First responders from nearby Thailand are among those working at the scene of the fire on Thursday.
(Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images)
Poipet, in western Cambodia, faces the city of Aranyaprathet, in more prosperous Thailand, and there is much cross-border trade and tourism.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
(Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images)
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Casinos are illegal in Thailand, but neighboring countries like Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are home to the lucrative industry. Cambodia has an especially active casino industry because the Southeast Asian country is also a popular tourist destination with convenient international connections.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
