A fire at the Borey Kimsan gated community in Ta Ker village of the capital’s Kamboul commune and district that ignited around 1am on November 30 took the lives of a three-star general and his daughter-in-law, according to local authorities.
District police chief Hang Mony told The Post that the deceased included Lieutenant General Chea Sophal, 64, who served as deputy head of the cabinet in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and his daughter-in-law, Khen, 30. Both were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
“The fire was caused by an electrical fault,” Mony said.
He said that the victims apparently suffocated from the smoke before the firefighters and emergency medical team from the district police station arrived and broke down the door in an attempt to rescue them from the burning home
Witnesses who lived nearby the incident said that before the flames became apparent, black smoke was seen rising from the apartment.
“After we broke into the apartment our officers found both of them unconscious. We rushed them to the hospital but the doctors pronounced them dead upon arrival,” Mony said.
The fire was contained and did not spread to other houses as five fire engines were on hand to fight the blaze and extinguish it.
According to the Ministry of Interior's Department of Fire Prevention and Rescue, the two deaths brought fire-related fatalities to 20 this year.
