5 Dead Including 1 Foreigner in Hip-Hop Club Fire, Siem Reap

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Sailorman
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Re: 5 Dead Including 1 Foreigner in Hip-Hop Club Fire, Siem

Post by Sailorman »

More than likely fled to the restrooms thinking it was an exit. Being a fireman in the past I can confirm that you get disoriented really fast in smoke and smoke usually gets you first before the heat. (find a wall and crawl on the floor following it.) The government will cover it up as usual. The state of fire departments in Cambodia is terrible. They are building big buildings in PP with no way of fighting a fire in a tall building.

The fire dept. in Sihanoukville is a sad joke. Lucky most everything is made out of concrete. Firemen with no "turnout" protective gear in flip-flops, no self-contained-breathing apparatus, no proper firefighting nozzles, asking for money before they attempt to squirt water on a fire. Also the NGOs that are suppose to teach firefighting aren't much help either. I volunteered to teach and help, but was getting into their rice bowl (money) and was turned down even though they said I had all the experience and credentials. (another strike against NGOs)
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Re: 5 Dead Including 1 Foreigner in Hip-Hop Club Fire, Siem

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Four Cambodians and an Australian national were killed Tuesday in an apparent electrical fire that consumed a popular nightclub in Siem Reap City, yet again raising concerns about the disregard for fire safety standards in Cambodia.

The deadly blaze started in the ceiling of the windowless Hip Hop Restaurant & Discotheque at about 2:50 a.m. and spread quickly, killing three Cambodian women, a Cambodian man and an Australian man, said Thorng Sakun, deputy Siem Reap provincial police chief.

Two Cambodian women were also seriously injured, he said.

Mr. Sakun named the Australian as Tom Anthony Ricketson, 32, and identified two of the four Cambodian victims as Prum Phiron, 31, and Cheng Savien, 33.

“We’ve handed over the bodies of the four [Cambodian] victims to their families, but the Australian citizen’s body has been sent to the Siem Reap provincial hospital’s morgue and a report has been sent to the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh,” he said.

Mr. Sakun said the likely cause of the fire was a short circuit.

“The fire started in the ceiling of the club, where there was a short circuit, according to our investigators and the electricity experts [that the police hired],” he said.

So Platong, deputy governor of Siem Reap City, said that as of Tuesday evening, authorities had yet to speak with the nightclub’s owner, Lee Meng Srin, but that an investigation was ongoing.

A video of the fire posted to YouTube, shot from outside the building, shows flames jetting from the nightclub’s roof. After about two minutes, the video cuts to a close-up of authorities carrying charred bodies and laying them on the ground in front of a crowd.

Tom Ricketson’s uncle, Australian filmmaker James Ricketson, said Tuesday that his nephew was on holiday in Cambodia and was considering moving here to help the country’s poor.

“He is a very kindhearted, generous and sweet man who worked with intellectually handicapped people in Australia. He was with me in Phnom Penh two weeks ago and came with me to a dump site to give food to poor people in Phnom Penh,” he said.

“He was so affected and moved by these poor people that he was talking about coming to Cambodia to help poor Cambodians.”

Tuesday’s fire comes about two years after a fire ripped through Siem Reap’s Night Market and killed eight people, and more than a year after the National Assembly passed a fire prevention law.

Siem Reap City police chief Tith Narong on Tuesday said the Hip Hop club had no windows and only one exit, hindering escape, and that there were too many electrical wires on the ceiling.

“We order owners to obey our fire safety standards, but they do not listen because they have money,” he said. “If they have money, they can do anything.”

Mr. Narong said firefighters battled Tuesday’s blaze until about 5 a.m.

Steve Morrish, the managing director of Azisafe, a safety and security consultancy based in Phnom Penh, said Tuesday’s fire once again exposed the country’s weak fire safety standards.

“There are very poor standards in terms of risk management and fire safety. People can put anyone in any building. It is a big problem and it needs to be addressed,” he said.

“Tourists assume if you go to a venue, that it has proper safety measures in place,” he said. “The majority of tourists come from developed countries…and when they come here they automatically assume.....

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Re: 5 Dead Including 1 Foreigner in Hip-Hop Club Fire, Siem

Post by General Mackevili »

You may have noticed, the victim from Australia is Tom Anthony Ricketson.

His uncle is James Ricketson.

His blogs are here:

https://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/?m=1

https://cambodia440.blogspot.com/?m=1



James Ricketson

43 years experience as a producer/director & writer of documentaries and drama. 19 years experience working as a one-man documentary filmmaking band – Producer, Director, Camera, Sound. 10 years experience working as a Reader/assessor, script editor and filmmaking mentor for the Australian Film Commission. Bachelor of Arts (Honours in Drama). Quit Masters degree (in Drama) midway through thesis to attend the inaugural year of the Australian Film and Television School in 1973. Graduate of AFTS; post-graduate scholarship from AFTS to study at New York University in 1975/76. In the mid to late 70s several short award winning dramas – JOKER, REFLECTIONS, DRIFTING. Wrote and directed the feature film BLACKFELLAS (based on Archie Weller’s novel DAY OF THE DOG). The film was nominated for four Australian Film Institute Awards – including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Direction. BLACKFELLAS won Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. Current documentary project in production: CHANTI’S WORLD: 17 years in the life of a Cambodian ‘street kid’ from age 8 to mother of five aged 25. Despite her extreme poverty Chanti, almost always smiling, refuses to be a victim.


I remember him having a go at K440 recently, which started because of a conflict between him and Scott Neeson. Something like that.

Very sorry for him and his family.
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Re: 5 Dead Including 1 Foreigner in Hip-Hop Club Fire, Siem

Post by General Mackevili »

Very sad to look at Tom Ricketson's public Facebook page. He seemed like a good guy and was having a very good time in Cambodia.

A post from his uncle, James Ricketson:

"Tom is no longer with us - other than in our heats and our memories. Tom died last night in a fire in a nightclub in Siem Reap, where this onto was taken of Tom. I am Tom's uncle and had the very great privilege and pleasure of spending 10 days with Tom recently in Phnom Penh. I find it very difficult, less than 24 hours after Tom's death, to use the past tense, but Tom was a sweet, gentle, kind, loving and generous young man whose shyness hid a gold mine of generosity towards his fellow human beings - especially those who, through no fault of their own, through a genetic throw of the dice, found themselves disadvantaged in the body and culture into which they had been born. Tom received his training in unconditional love in his caring for Tess.he took what he had learnt into his professional life - caring for those who, as a result of a genetic thrown of the dice, were born disabled. Tom revealed this aspect of himself to me recently in Phnom Penh when he came with me to visit a very poor community and was so moved by their plight that he was thinking about what he could do to help alleviate the worst aspects of the poverty these people experienced. Tom's Facebook photos speak more eloquently than any words I can conjure of the way n which he immediately connected with the people we were visiting. A special spirit, was Tom. Is Tom."

Image

Image

https://facebook.com/tom.ricketson
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Re: 5 Dead Including 1 Foreigner in Hip-Hop Club Fire, Siem

Post by Kampong Spooner »

Rickettson and Morish in the same article?? Strange.

RIP to the fella, I've spent many a night in Hip-Hop. Sad to say that 0 lessons will be learned.
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Re: 5 Dead Including 1 Foreigner in Hip-Hop Club Fire, Siem

Post by LTO »

Kampong Spooner wrote:Rickettson and Morish in the same article?? Strange.

RIP to the fella, I've spent many a night in Hip-Hop. Sad to say that 0 lessons will be learned.
Wow. That's wierd. Six degrees of separation and all.

RIP to the poor kid, and the others who died.

Yup, nothing will be learned. But it will probably provide yet another nice example of corruption, impunity and incompetance.
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Re: 5 Dead Including 1 Foreigner in Hip-Hop Club Fire, Siem

Post by flying chicken »

I just got back into town and in the morning after I woke up heard this news from my wife. In noon our good friend mom n pop seller said Pov, an ex wife of my spoiled friends whom I known for many years was one of the victom. I was shocked. Tried searching on the Khmer online news, it was removed; but they said they saw the burned picture of her on Facebook burned to the bone. I am not knowledgable in term of this sort of occupation i.e. electrical shits. It's strange though, it takes 2 hours over on a 2000 degrees plus Celcius to do this kind of damage.

From the hearsay, the place tried to pay everyone from 20 to 100 bucks to shut up and fuck off. I am no expert in CSI, but I were to stick my nose I have no doubt getting my ass kicked.

I wonder what hoon sen's son in charge of Rock Cafe right opposite to Hip Hop has to say about this.
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Re: 5 Dead Including 1 Foreigner in Hip-Hop Club Fire, Siem

Post by flying chicken »

An Oz national died as well. Like that Irish biker dude, not justice served yet to the bitch who ran him over, I think it is over and done. Newer story capture more attention. At best the media will write how shit Cambodia is. I tried to protest in that thread but in vain...obviously. I dont care if it is a Cambodian or foreign nationals...like I said in that thread, if we let it goes on it might be you or me and those innocence might be NEXT.

I hope the Australian embassy is dare enough to tell them fuck off with your mere couple thousand dollars compensation to investigate this deceased person in how he died. But politics and gain always get in the way of things. And I do no not think the OZ, the Yanks and NGO workers want to give up the latte sipping every morning in the comfort zone, having maids and drivers and other comforts.
EVERYONE BOW DOWN AND PAY EXTREME HOMAGE TO HIS MAJESTIES flying chicken©
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Re: 5 Dead Including 1 Foreigner in Hip-Hop Club Fire, Siem

Post by General Mackevili »

flying chicken wrote:Tried searching on the Khmer online news, it was removed; but they said they saw the burned picture of her on Facebook burned to the bone.
Very sorry to hear that. I included some graphic pics, but put them in spoilers due to their graphic nature.

I didn't find any footage from the night of the fire, but several from the following day.


Video of the horrific aftermath:

GRAPHIC:
Spoiler:
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Re: 5 Dead Including 1 Foreigner in Hip-Hop Club Fire, Siem

Post by Mr Curious »

"I wonder what hoon sen's son in charge of Rock Cafe right opposite to Hip Hop has to say about this."

what a shame, my competition is gone.
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