Casino Fire: Cambodia

A massive fire ran through a hotel casino overnight in Cambodia, leaving at least 16 dead, with the death toll certain to rise.

The inferno erupted at the Grand Diamond City casino and hotel in Poipet around midnight Wednesday and burned for around 14 hours before it was put out. The property is located just hundreds of feet away from the country’s border with Thailand.


"Oh, please help rescue them. Pump water... pump water," onlookers reportedly were heard shouting in a video posted by Cambodia's firefighting agency. The footage, according to the Associated Press, showed people trapped on the roof of the hotel complex, which is more than a dozen stories tall at its highest point. The fire was massive, and was inside the casino, so it reportedly was difficult for water cannons to reach it.

At least one man was seen falling as the flames reached the roof.

Any word on Triad involvement?

Quote: gordonm888

A massive fire ran through a hotel casino overnight in Cambodia, leaving at least 16 dead, with the death toll certain to rise.

Was it coincidence that there was just 17 YO's in a row and then the place catches fire?

I know that Cambodia is so different than Las Vegas that there is a sense of unreality about what happened, but this appears to have been a major casino disaster. Apparently the fire started in the casino late on Tuesday night, there were 500 employees and 400 gamblers present. The building appears to have been highly combustible and people trapped on the higher floors seemed to have suffered the worst outcomes.

This was a major casino. Thai gamblers would travel 4 hours to cross the Thai/Cambodia border and vacation at this casino hotel in Cambodia.

Reports now are alluding to 19 confirmed deaths and many injuries.

I was at this casino in 2018. Weird little town that exists only for the casinos. Sad story for sure, I doubt the casinos/hotels were up to code by North American standards.

"Fire!" screamed a voice. The house lights flashed, water pumps shot water from the ceilings. But the solvent spread on the linoleum, licking, eating, under the kitchen door, while the voices took it up in chorus: "Fire, fire, fire!"

Help, help! Fire! Run, run! Heat snapped mirrors like the first brittle winter ice. And the voices wailed. Fire, fire, run, run, like a tragic nursery rhyme, a dozen voices, high, low, like children dying in a forest, alone, alone.


November 21, 2022 marks 42 years since the deadly fire at the Las Vegas MGM Grand. — It was 42 years ago when fire and suffocating smoke raced through the MGM Grand Hotel killing 87 people and injuring more than 600.

Quote: Washington Post

An initial investigation found that the fire may have been caused by New Year’s holiday decorations that drew too much electricity, causing wires to overheat and burn, local authorities said.

The death toll has climbed to 26.