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Cambodia: Siem Reap market fire kills 8

GlobalPost
Cambodian officers stand guard as a night market (back) burns in Siem Reap province, some 300 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh in the early hours on December 8, 2012. Eight people, including four children, were killed in a fire that tore through a popular night market in the Cambodian tourist town of Siem Reap early December 8, police said.
Stringer

A Cambodian market in the tourist town of Siem Reap caught fire on Saturday, killing eight people. 

Among the dead were four children, who were sleeping on the upper floor of a building in the popular market when an electrical problem sparked the blaze, UPI reported. 

"Eight people from two families died in the fire. They could not find their way out," Sath Nady, chief of police in northwestern Siem Reap province, told Agence France Presse.

Two others were seriously injured.

The market is near the ancient temple complex of Angkor, one of Cambodia's main tourist attractions, BBC News reported. It was not trading during the time of the fire, which ignited around 2 a.m. local time, according to APA News. 

Angkor, a UNESCO world heritage site, gets two million foreign visitors a year, according to AFP.  

More from GlobalPost: PlanetPic: Fighting in Syria damages historic market, ancient ruins

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