Fire in Cambodian tourist city kills 8

Cambodian officers stand guard as a night market (back) burns in Siem Reap province, some 300 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh in the early hours on December 8, 2012. Eight people, including four children, were killed in a fire that tore through a popular night market in the Cambodian tourist town of Siem Reap early December 8, police said.

 

A stall holder tries to extinguish the blaze in the night market in Siem Reap

A fire at a night market in the tourist town of Siem Reap has killed 8 people and destroyed over 100 stalls.

By Talia Ralph 

The Global Post

December 8, 2012

A Cambodian market in the tourist town of Siem Reap caught fire on Saturday, killing eight people.

Among the dead were four children, who were sleeping on the upper floor of a building in the popular market when an electrical problem sparked the blaze, UPI reported.

"Eight people from two families died in the fire. They could not find their way out," Sath Nady, chief of police in northwestern Siem Reap province, told Agence France Presse.

Two others were seriously injured.

The market is near the ancient temple complex of Angkor, one of Cambodia's main tourist attractions, BBC News reported. It was not trading during the time of the fire, which ignited around 2 a.m. local time, according to APA News.

Angkor, a UNESCO world heritage site, gets two million foreign visitors a year, according to AFP.
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AAP December 9, 2012,

Eight people, including four children, have died in a fire that raged through a street market in the Cambodian tourist city of Siem Reap.

Police officials identified the victims as merchants and their families who were sleeping in the market when the fire broke out, probably caused by a short circuit, according to local media.

An unspecified number of the injured were taken to hospital for treatment of their burns on Saturday morning, media outlets said.

Angkor is one of South-East Asia's most important archaeological sites and includes the remains of different capitals of the Khmer Empire, at its height from the 9th to the 14th century, according to UNESCO.

Outstanding among the archaeological ruins are the famed Hindu temple complex of Angkor Wat and the richly decorated temple of Bayon, located in Angkor Thom.