In Phnom Penh, arguing children set house alight; aunt killed, uncle hospitalised, 11 homes destroyed

After the fire broke out, the child responsible reportedly fled the scene.

Phak Seangly

Phak Seangly

The Phnom Penh Post

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The blaze swept through a total of eleven homes in Phnom Penh’s Cheung Ek commune. PHOTO: FIRE DEPARTMENT/THE PHNOM PENH POST

November 24, 2025

PHNOM PENH – A woman was killed and a man seriously injured after a fire consumed 11 homes at around 8pm on Friday, November 21, Phnom Penh’s Roluos village, in Dangkor district’s Cheung Ek commune.

According to the Phnom Penh Municipal Police Fire and Rescue Office, the blaze started when children arguing with each other set their own house on fire, which then spread to 10 neighbouring homes.

“Our investigation showed that the fire was caused when children, during an argument, set their house alight. The fire resulted in the death of one woman and serious injury to one man, their uncle,” the Fire and Rescue Office stated this morning, November 22.

The woman who died was the aunt of the children who set the fire. After the fire broke out, the child responsible reportedly fled the scene.

Colonel Prum Yorn, chief of the Fire and Rescue Police Office, led the operation to mobilise forces and prevent the fire from spreading.

The house where the fire began was a 3 by 6 metre wooden house. The fire also completely gutted ten nearby homes before it was brought under control by 11.30pm the same night.

A total of 8 municipal fire trucks from the Phnom Penh municipal police and one truck from the Cambodia Brewery Company were used to extinguish the blaze.

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