Death toll rises to 8 in under-repair nightclub fire in Cambodian capital

Phnom Penh, July 3 The death toll had risen to eight in an under-renovation entertainment club blaze in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, a municipal police spokesman said.

"Two more bodies were found in the scorched nightclub building on Sunday morning, bringing the total number of the deceased to eight (six men and two women)," Phnom Penh Municipal Police spokesman San Sok Seiha told Xinhua on Sunday, adding that the victims were renovation workers.

"According to forensic examination by doctors, the eight persons died of suffocation," he said.

The blaze broke out on Saturday evening on the fifth floor of the nightclub in the capital's Tuol Kork district when the victims were renovating interior parts of the building, Seiha added.

According to the spokesman, police have detained four persons for inquiries over the tragic accident as one has escaped, Xinhua news agency reported.

Cambodia recorded 454 fire accidents across the country in 2022, with 42 people killed and 55 others injured, according to the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM).

According to the NCDM, a major fire killed 26 people at the Grand Diamond City hotel and casino in Poipet, a town bordering Thailand, on December 28 last year.

--IANS