Phnom Penh authorities were kept busy over the Khmer New Year period, when two
fires destroyed a total of 97 houses and left 111 families homeless.
Barangs get into the Khmer New Year experience, joining in with locals to hurl talcum powder and water outside Number 9 Guesthouse at Boeng Kak in Phnom Penh. Along with visiting temples and playing traditional games, innocent passers-by traveling around the city were cooled off from the sizzling heat in a (mostly) friendly war of water-bombs, buckets and hoses.
The
first fire occurred at midnight on April 14, on street 508, Psar Doeum Thkao
commune, Chamcar Mon district.
According to the military police incident
report released April 17, an electrical problem sparked the blaze in a house
containing four other flats.
The fire then spread through 48
neighbouring homes and displaced 58 families.
A similar incident occurred
at 12.15pm on April 16 at Boeng Kak two commune, Tuol Kork district.
Lim
San, 38, a construction worker, left an incense stick burning among his New Year
offerings when he left for a midnight walk. When he returned the incense had
started a fire that destroyed 48 houses, leaving 53 families
homeless.
There were no injuries sustained in either of the blazes,
according to the report.
Further incidents reported over the three-day
celebrations were motor vehicle accidents, a robbery and a shooting.
One
person was killed and three injured when two motorcycles collided on April 14 at
7:30 p.m. in Khan Dangkor
district.
In the same district on April 16
at 7:30 a.m. a Toyota corolla crashed into pedestrian Son Sean, 55, killing him
instantly.
Three pick-pocketers stole 22-year-old English tourist Leane
Aiexoanoel's handbag west of Wat Phnom on April 14 at 17:50.
Noun Sam
Art, 16, was later arrested for the offence and is detained at Duan Penh police
station, according to the military police report.
On April 16 at 23:50 a
dispute broke out at Meas Restaurant, Monivong Boulevard between Ty, 34, and Kut
Sophak, 37. According to the report the two men were arguing and Ty shot Sophak
in the thigh, seriously injuring him. Ty escaped afterwards.
On Sisowath
Quay, a policeman fired one round into the air at around 7:30 p.m. on April 16,
to disperse a man who was abusing police.
The man claimed the police hit
him in the arm with a baton while he was riding on the back of a friend's
motorcycle, apparently in an attempt to move congested traffic in front of Wat
Ounalom.
After verbal abusing the police for several more minutes, the
man left the scene with his friends.
The number of fatalities over the
New Year period was lower in 2005, compared with last year, when seven members
of one family were killed in a house fire, and two separate stabbing incidents
left two people seriously injured.
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