There were hundreds of people in the Grand Diamond City hotel on the Thai border at the time of the fire. Several of them died or were injured jumping from the upper floors. The casino had many visitors from Thailand as gambling is banned there.

PHNOM PENH, Dec 29: Nineteen people died in a hotel fire in Cambodia in the wee hours of Thursday. The hotel-casino is situated in Poipet town bordering Thailand.

There were hundreds of people in the Grand Diamond City at the time of the fire. Several of them died or were injured jumping from the upper floors as the fire swept through the hotel-casino at 23:30 (16:30 GMT) on Wednesday. Among those in the building were many Thai nationals.

The dense smoke and the heat prevented rescue teams from reaching the upper floors. The police and military were also deployed for the rescue operation. It took six hours to bring the blaze under control.

The cause of the fire is not known yet. About 50 injured are hospitalised and 13 of them are on life support.

The hotel-casino being on the border, lot of people from Thailand, where gambling is banned, visit the hotel.

In August in a Thai night club fire 26 people were killed. A month later 32 people died in a blaze in a bar in Vietnam.