Cambodia building collapse kills 36 people, injures 23 others

[geovalin]

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Thirty-six people were killed and 23 more injured when a tourist guesthouse under construction in Cambodia collapsed, trapping workers under rubble, officials said on Sunday.

 

Officials said rescue operations ended two days after the seven-storey concrete building collapsed on Friday in the coastal town of Kep, about 160 km (100 miles) southwest of the capital Phnom Penh.

 

The 36 dead included six children and 14 women, officials said in a statement that did not detail why children were at the construction site.

 

Kep Governor Ken Satha said that the owners of the building, a Cambodian couple, had been detained for questioning.

However, Prime Minister Hun Sen defended the government response and said that no officials in Kep province would be fired.

 

“Building collapses don’t only happen in Cambodia ... they happen elsewhere ... including in the United States,” Hun Sen said in a news briefing.

 

Cambodia is undergoing a construction boom to serve growing crowds of Chinese tourists and investors.

The Kep building collapse came six months after 28 people were killed when a Chinese-owned construction site collapsed in Preah Sihanouk province. Seven people were charged with involuntary manslaughter and Hun Sen fired a disaster management official over that accident.

 

Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Kim Coghill and Jane Wardell

 

--  REUTERS

[holy cow cm]

7 minutes ago, geovalin said:

Seven people were charged with involuntary manslaughter and Hun Sen fired a disaster management official over that accident.

How ironic coming from a Khmer Rouge Battalion Commander

[ezzra]

29 minutes ago, geovalin said:

The 36 dead included six children and 14 women, officials said in a statement that did not detail why children were at the construction site.

There could be a million  possibilities why were the children at the construction site, the first one would like to be with their working mothers because the nannies were having a day off at the spa Sherlock...

Edited January 6, 2020 by ezzra

[tomazbodner]

One good thing - that is collapsed just before being completed, rather than after completion, filled with many more occupants.

[khunPer]

8 hours ago, ezzra said:

There could be a million  possibilities why were the children at the construction site, the first one would like to be with their working mothers because the nannies were having a day off at the spa Sherlock...

Yes, when I had my house build (in Thailand) there were small children at the site. Many workers are migrant workers – might be domestic in Cambodia, but coming form other areas and living in camps near or by a construction site – and they bring their small children, often younger than school-age, with them. When both mom and dad is working – women might not work every day, depending of what work is needed at the site – the children are brought to the construction site.

 

 

[Mac98]

4 hours ago, khunPer said:

Yes, when I had my house build (in Thailand) there were small children at the site. Many workers are migrant workers – might be domestic in Cambodia, but coming form other areas and living in camps near or by a construction site – and they bring their small children, often younger than school-age, with them. When both mom and dad is working – women might not work every day, depending of what work is needed at the site – the children are brought to the construction site.

 

 

You say "even younger than school age". Of course, those are the one who most need tending because they aren't in school.

 

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, Mac98 said:

8 hours ago, khunPer said:

Yes, when I had my house build (in Thailand) there were small children at the site. Many workers are migrant workers – might be domestic in Cambodia, but coming form other areas and living in camps near or by a construction site – and they bring their small children, often younger than school-age, with them. When both mom and dad is working – women might not work every day, depending of what work is needed at the site – the children are brought to the construction site.

You say "even younger than school age". Of course, those are the one who most need tending because they aren't in school.

No, I said "often younger than school-age"...????