According to sources, more than 20 people have been killed in a huge fire at the Grand Diamond City Hotel and Casino in Cambodia.

 

More than 400 people, including casino employees and gamblers, were in the building at the casino in Poipet, near the Cambodia-Thailand border, government officials said.

 

The cause of the fire remains unknown, with social media clips showing many people jumping from building windows to escape the flames. Some of the injured were taken to a hospital on the Thai border. Many Thai citizens travel to Cambodia to gamble due to Thailand’s strict regulations on gambling, where gambling is almost illegal.

 

The dire news comes after Cambodia announced a crackdown on illegal gambling in the country by shutting down more than 90 percent of illegal gambling operations.

 

After the operation, Sok Phal, secretary of state at the Ministry of Home Affairs, told Preah Sihanouk Governor Kuoch Chamroeun that the ministry would continue to clear the streets of illegal gambling establishments, saying: “We all know that we have smashed hundreds of places and now gambling It has disappeared, and more than 90% of the illegal dens have been shut down.

 

Despite a government push to restart tourism and related economic activity, the police took action after figures from the Commercial Gambling Council (CGCC) of the Cambodian Ministry of Economy and Finance showed disappointing state revenue from commercial gambling.