Thai market blaze

A fire at a market in Thailand’s Surin province destroyed 610 stalls predominantly owned by Cambodian migrant workers yesterday, with initial damage costs estimated at US$3 million.

Phem Somath, chief of O’Smach commune, in Oddar Meanchey’s in Samrong district, said yesterday that the fire was caused after a gas refiller lit a stove at a house near the market while he was changing the gas tank, which caused an explosion.

He said the Thai market, located just 3 kilometres from the O’Smach border gate in Surin province’s Kat Cheung district, immediately caught fire.

“The market is in Thailand, but some 90 percent of the vendors there are Cambodian,” he said, and added that 10 fire trucks from both sides of the border were needed to extinguish the blaze. Vath Paranin, chief of the O’Smach border gate, said yesterday that Thai officials were providing food to people who lost property during the fire, and would continue to do so until the market was reconstructed.