A nightclub fire in Phnom Penh has killed five women and seriously injured two other men, officials said late Monday.
Patrons inside had been trapped when the fire broke out at the Key Club, in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, said Prum Yorn, municipal fire chief.
It took firefighters nearly two hours to put out the blaze, because the club had no automate fire suppression. The fire department sent 20 fire trucks to combat the blaze.
“It is so dangerous when a fire breaks out in such a narrow club,” Prum Yorn said. “Those sofas inside the club created more smoke, which reduced the oxygen, and the victims died from inhaling the smoke.” The victims were all waitresses or bartenders, he said.
Chak Angre Krom Commune Chief Chea Sokhay said the cause of the fire remains under investigation, but he said it had started in the early evening, when fewer patrons were present, sparing a catastrophe.
