Eight people were killed in a fire at a nightclub in Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh on Saturday (July 1). The victims included five Chinese nationals and two Vietnamese nationals, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. The police said that the fire was reported around 5 pm local time on Saturday at the 6969 nightclub in downtown Phnom Penh.
The victims were trapped on the upper floor of a five-storey building. Authorities were investigating the cause of the fire. It took a few hours to extinguish the flames, AFP reported. A preliminary police investigation said that a short circuit caused the fire.
This incident in Phnom Penh comes after a fire ripped through a casino on the Thai-Cambodian border in December last year, killing 26 people. The fire at the Grand Diamond City Hotel Casino was caused by an electrical short circuit.
Some of the victims were burnt to death, some died due to lack of oxygen and some were burnt and died along the casino complex’s exit ways, according to Kun Kim, the deputy chairman of the National Committee for Disaster Management.
Kim also said that authorities took too long to douse the fire, blaming the casino’s complex layout and lack of rescue equipment.
(With inputs from agencies)
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