A fire started by a gas explosion burned a 15-room house to the ground in Siem Reap town’s Slakram commune yesterday morning, police said.  

The explosion occurred when the house’s owner, who sold gas for cooking, was transferring his product from a large container into smaller ones for sale, said Siem Reap province deputy police chief Thoeung Chendarith.

Fortunately, the residents of the zinc-roofed house heard the explosion, and all were able to evacuate the building uninjuredbefore the fire rapidly consumed their rooms, he said.

“The rooms were built much too close to each other, and that’s why the fire was able to spread so quickly,” Chendarith said.

Siem Reap city police chief Soun San said fire trucks initially could not reach the fire because the street was too narrow. Later, the blaze’s damage to the rooms opened the way for five trucks to come through and extinguish the fire.  

Victims said they had no time to talk as they scrambled to find places to stay.