That's tragic. As others have mentioned, these places are death traps if anything goes wrong. Same with many apartments here, I have 3 doorway exits from my place but there's no way I could get out of any of the barred windows and besides that many night venues have only one open exit. If there are any other doors they are likely locked.

Here's one nightclub in Bavet where 5 people were incinerated a couple of years or so back"

“There were many ways in and out,” he said. “I do not know why they could not escape. If they survived, we could ask them why.”

According to Mr. Kong, two fire trucks and about 60 firefighters fully extinguished the blaze by 1 p.m. Monday.

However, a Bavet commune police official involved with the investigation, who declined to provide his name, said there was only one exit from the club, which was engulfed in flames that prevented the victims from escaping.

https://www.cambodiadaily.com/archives/ ... ire-80559/

This one in my neighborhood was even worse, considering it was the second similar incident in 2 years;

A fire caused by a smoke machine tore through a nightclub in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on Monday night and killed five people, according to officials, the second deadly blaze at the establishment in less than two years.

Two employees and three teenage patrons died when the blaze engulfed the Key Club in Chak Angre Krom commune shortly after 8 p.m. on Monday, according to commune police chief Mao Sivorn.

“The fire started because of a short circuit in a machine that was spraying smoke from the wall into the middle of the club,” he said. “The fire spread quickly because the club was full of flammable material.”

Mr. Sivorn said the fire started at the end of a hallway that leads to the club’s entrance and quickly filled the building with smoke, making it nearly impossible to find the only other exit.

“The victims died because there was no oxygen inside the club. They panicked and they could not find the exit,” he said.

https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/five ... lub-93685/


Apologies if the CD website is blocked by your provider. I couldn't access it for a while but I'm glad it's working again. It does actually have some great archives.

One more from Siem Reap in 2014 where 5 unfortunate people perished:



All those KTVs are total death traps, some of them are huge and they are just like giant blockhouses with only one entry, they don't even bother putting windows in. If the aircon fails I'm not sure there is any other ventilation in these places.

Just in case you're wondering, there aren't any windows/balconies on the other sides either, the shelf sort of things on the middle one are just for air-con units.