If you were wondering where the billowing black smoke shooting into the sky this afternoon was coming from, the source was a petrol tanker that caught fire. It was burning out of control on Street 182 in Phnom Penh's Prampi Makara district. Close by building sights were left abandoned, markets emptied and the maze of people did not make easy access for the fire trucks. The traffic build up the huge crowd of onlookers certainly did their best to (unwillingly) block their access as they made a bee line to the flames like moths to a light.
The tanker was soon a grey mess with orange flames and mushrooming black smoke spewing out of it. Police tried to keep the crowd at bay but more and more fanned in from the streets and building sites other people watched from tall buildings,
One fire engine after another hurled down the street and eventually the brave firemen completed their task and the fire was put out with the smoke turning white in the jets of the hoses. A shop caught fire briefly.
At the time of writing it appeared that there were no serious injuries apart from some minor smoke inhalation.
More photographs from the( September-21-2010 )
More photographs from the fire on www.KampucheaPartyRepublic.com.