An eight-year-old girl was killed and nine people were seriously injured when a crematorium blew up in Kampong Cham province yesterday.

Chhay Phun, chief of Mesor Chhrai commune in Stung Trang district, said yesterday that the son-in-law of a deceased elderly woman poured 10 litres of diesel and two litres of petrol on her body, lit it and closed the crematorium door – sparking the disaster.

“The son-in-law, his wife, and their daughter sat praying in front of the crematorium. It exploded and the crematorium door hit and killed the girl and injured her parents and other people next to them,” he said.  

Wet wood used by the family to try and burn the corpse had failed to ignite, prompting the ill-fated decision that led to the death of eight-year-old Oun Touch, Stung Trang district police chief Chea Thearith said yesterday. “Most of the victims are young people,” he said, adding that a total of 12 people had been rushed to nearby hospitals.

Un Vuthny, chief of the operations section at Kampong Cham provincial hospital, said yesterday they had dealt with seven victims of the blast.