BA fire destroyed 40 squatter homes, and a nearby tobacco factory nearly went up in smoke in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on Thursday morning, police officials said.
The fire, which singed the British American Tobacco Company plant, left about 200 people homeless, according to Touch Sarun, the district police chief. There were no deaths, he said, although several people suffered from smoke inhalation.
The blaze started from a cooking fire at about 7:30 am and spread through the wooden homes until the fire department arrived at 8:30 am, according to Sok Vannara, first deputy fire prevention chief of Phnom Penh. Fire trucks could not access the city’s water supply because of pipe repairs and had to pump water from the nearby Tonle Bassac river, he said.
Many families could not save their households because they were away at the market or working in the adjacent BAT factory, victims said.
“I’ve lost everything after this fire,” said 89-year-old Ngeng Chayha, who carried her 11-month-old granddaughter.
A plume of black smoke could be seen throughout the city.
The fire threatened a warehouse and the multinational corporation’s primary factory in Cambodia but did not cause major damage, according to a company press release.
The company praised local firefighters.
“Due to the effectiveness of the Phnom Penh fire service and many British American Tobacco employees, the fire was controlled quickly, preventing significant damage to neighboring areas,” the press release stated.
The release described damage to the two buildings as “limited,” and added that the damage will not hinder the factory’s manufacturing capability.
When asked whether the company will assist employees who lost their homes in the fire, Nigel Venning, corporate affairs manager for BAT, said: “It’s too early to say. [The workers] are sorting themselves out at the moment.”
