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Thailand opens border crossing amid casino blaze death toll fears

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2022

Thailand’s police chief on Thursday ordered the Aranyaprathet border crossing to be opened to speed up transportation of victims from a deadly casino fire in Poipet, Cambodia.

Police chief Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas told Sa Kaew immigration office to clear the path for rescue vehicles taking casualties to Aranyaprathet Hospital and nearby hospitals, police spokesman Artchayon Kraithong said.

The fire started at around 11pm on Wednesday at the Thai-owned Grand Diamond City Hotel and Casino, which is located about 200 metres from the Ban Klong Luk checkpoint in Aranyaprathet. It took firefighters till noon on Thursday to bring the blaze under control, by which time the complex was gutted.

Poipet authorities told the Phnom Penh Post that “more than 10 people” had been killed in the blaze but more than 400 people, mainly Thais, were still trapped in the casino. Local media outlets are estimating the death toll is in the hundreds.

Firefighters and rescuers have been prevented from entering the building over fears it will collapse.

The Thai police spokesman said most of the casualties transported to hospitals in Sa Kaew are Thais. One person, named only as Ae, 24, was confirmed dead in hospital while 32 others are being treated for injuries, the spokesman said.

Damrongsak also ordered Sa Kaew police to set up an emergency call centre in Aranyaprathet to provide information on victims and assist their families.

The centre is coordinating with the Institute of Forensic Medicine to help identify victims.

Damrongsak also directed the Immigration Bureau to coordinate with the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh to provide Thais affected by the fire with temporary travel documents so they can return to Thailand.

Earlier reports:

Number of dead in Poipet casino inferno expected to surge

At least 10 feared dead in Poipet casino inferno as people jump from 5th floor

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https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40023567

Number of dead in Poipet casino inferno expected to surge

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2022

Thai rescuers estimated that more than 30 Thai nationals perished in the massive blaze that engulfed the 355-room Grand Diamond City Hotel and Casino in the Cambodian border town of Poipet late Wednesday night, while a Cambodian official warned that the death toll could rise to the hundreds.

Banteay Meanchey provincial spokesman Sek Sokhom told Cambodian newspaper Kampuchea Thmey late Thursday afternoon that the death toll could rise to the hundreds. He said the casino complex had 400 staff and an unknown number of guests. Anyone trapped in a room during the fire can be presumed dead, he told the newspaper.

Rescue officials from Thai foundations who crossed the border from Sa Kaew’s Aranyaprathet district to the impoverished casino town on the Cambodian side of the border, said they retrieved bodies believed to be Thai.

The official number of fatalities has yet to be announced, but Cambodian media said at least 19 bodies had been recovered by mid-afternoon on Thursday and that those trapped inside the casino complex during the blaze were likely killed by smoke inhalation or fire.

Island of Peace newspaper reported that the blaze had spread to an adjacent casino, Poipet Resort and Casino. It said that the number of dead would surge as both casino workers and guests had been trapped inside the casino complex during the blaze.

Damage caused by the fire made it unsafe for rescuers to enter the building – which appeared in danger of collapsing – to search for bodies, the newspaper reported.

The two Thai-owned casinos are operated by Grand Exclusive Poipet Cambodia. They are located just 200 metres from Ban Klong Luk checkpoint in Aranyaprathet, along the main road through the busiest border checkpoint between Thailand and Cambodia.

The fire started at 11pm on Wednesday and rapidly swept through the complex. Thai and Cambodian employees as well as Thai gamblers were inside the casino complex when the blaze broke out.

Firefighters managed to control the blaze by noon on Thursday and kept dousing the building with water for fear the fire would resume.

Thai fire fighters said the building was completely ravaged by the fire and appeared on the brink of collapsing.

Opas Karnkawinpong, permanent secretary at the Public Health Ministry, said he was informed by Dr Prapas Phukduang, chief Sa Kaew province public health officer at 8:20am that 32 injured people were transported across the border to hospitals in Sa Kaeo.

Opas said 13 of them were in critical condition, three in mild condition and 16 were slightly injured. Opas said he had instructed all hospitals in Sa Kaew to be prepared to accept more injured people.

Hospitals on the Cambodian side of the border also reported receiving scores of patients, Cambodian media reported.

Opas added that he had sought cooperation from Rayong Hospital, Chonburi Hospital, Sunpasitthiprasong Hospital, Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital, Rajavithi Hospital, Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital, Ramathibodi Hospital, Chulalongkorn Hospital, and Vajira Hospital to prepared beds for patients critically injured in the blaze.

Cambodia’s firefighting departments are poorly equipped and their crews poorly trained. The country only enacted fire-safety legislation about five years ago. Firefighting departments in Cambodia rely primarily on donations of equipment and are frequently accused of failing to extinguish blazes until local residents or business owners pay bribes to make them do so.

Videos circulating on social media show panicked people waiting on rooftops and open winders for rescue cranes to help them escape. Firefighters in Poipet, however, had no rescue cranes to assist them. Several jumped from rooftops as the flames approached. At least two of them were killed while others sustained broken legs, Cambodian media reported. Videos circulating on social media show panicked people jumping from windows and the casino’s rooftop as no other escape routes were available.Earlier report:

At least 10 feared dead in Poipet casino inferno as people jump from 5th floor

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https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40023559

Fugitive Thai politician owned Cambodian casino where fire killed 10

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2022

The Cambodian casino and a hotel where at least 10 people died and another 30 were injured in a fire on Wednesday night reportedly belongs to fugitive Thai politician Vatana Asavahame.

A blaze erupted at Grand Diamond City Hotel on Wednesday night, killing at least 10 people and injuring another 30.

The blaze erupted in the 355-room hotel casino at about 11.30pm after a gas tank exploded. The blaze continued into Thursday morning. Cambodian police said the fire was under control before noon today.

Cambodian media said several guests had climbed to the rooftop to escape the blaze. They were expecting Cambodian authorities to rescue them with cranes, but as the flames approached and no rescue cranes arrived, they leapt to the ground. At least two of them died, while the rest suffered broken legs, the reports said.

Over a year ago, Vatana offered to sell his two casinos in Cambodia – Grand Diamond City Hotel and Casino and Poipet Resort and Casino – for a combined price of 12 billion baht. The two venues are owned by Grand Exclusive Poipet Cambodia, and located in Poipet town – the main border crossing between Thailand and Cambodia.

Vatana, 86, told a Thai media outlet that he wanted to sell his two casinos in Poipet, citing an economic downturn, but it remains unclear whether they were sold.

Vatana, a former deputy interior minister, is wanted by Thai authorities for malfeasance in connection with irregularities involving the Klong Dan wastewater treatment project in Samut Prakan province, which is located in his former constituency.

A warrant for his arrest was issued in July 2008 after Vatana failed to attend the reading of a Supreme Court verdict on the case against him and others accused of corruption in the wastewater project. He reportedly fled to Cambodia.

In July 2018, the court sentenced Vatana in absentia to three years in jail for land-procurement fraud.

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Thai version of anti-Covid Molnupiravir to be made available this week

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2022

Thai-made Covid-19 antiviral drug Molnupiravir will be made available at all branches of Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) pharmacies this week.

The GPO announced on Thursday that it has successfully developed its own version of the antiviral, called “Monovir”, for treatment of Covid-19 symptoms.

The Thai-made drug has passed a bioequivalence study, meaning it has similar efficacy as the original Molnupiravir developed by US drug companies Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, said GPO deputy director Dr Nanthakan Suwanpidokkul.

She said the GPO has started delivering Monovir to GPO pharmacies nationwide and it will be available in 200mg capsules for patients with a doctor’s prescription in the next few days.

Thailand is currently using between 100,000 and 200,000 capsules of Molnupiravir per day, all of which have to be imported.

“Although we still have adequate stocks of imported Molnupiravir, being able to manufacture the drug domestically will further strengthen the country’s supply and ensure that all patients have access to the treatment,” said Nanthakan.

Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved four antiviral drugs, namely Favipiravir, Remdesivir, Molnupiravir and Paxlovid. All four can be purchased with a prescription at hospitals, clinics and pharmacies under the Health Facility Act of 1998.

For more info, call the GPO hotline at 1648.

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