Hotel collapse search ends with 36 dead

A search for victims in the rubble of a collapsed hotel in southern Cambodia drew to a close yesterday with the death toll at 36 - the latest tragedy in a string of construction accidents.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said 23 people had been pulled alive from the remains of the seven-storey building, which was still under construction when it crumpled in seaside Kep on Friday afternoon.

Rescuers also managed to free a dog trapped in the debris yesterday.

"Yet another tragedy," noted Hun Sen, who said families of victims would get US$50,000 (HK$389,000) each in compensation while the injured would receive US$20,000.

The contractor died in the accident while the building's owner has been detained.

The rescue effort lasted more 40 hours, with soldiers and laborers using excavators, drills and saws to clear concrete and cut metal bars in the pancaked structure.

Cambodia is in a construction boom, with hotels and casinos springing up with little oversight.

Labor is undertaken by about 200,000 workers reliant on day wages and who are not protected, according to the International Labor Organization.

In June, 28 people died in the collapse of a building under construction in Sihanoukville, a beach town controlled by Chinese investors.