A fire at a casino hotel in Cambodia has killed at least 19 people.

Rescue workers found the remains of 19 people in the burned-out complex in Poipet on the border with Thailand on Thursday, a government spokesman said.

In initially inaccessible parts of the building, however, further fatalities were suspected.

Desperate people had sought shelter from the flames on the hotel's ledges and window sills.

According to police, the fire broke out late Wednesday evening at the Grand Diamond City Hotel and Casino in Poipet.

A volunteer with Thailand's Ruamkatanyu Foundation rescue organization said the fire started on the first floor of the building and spread rapidly to other floors through the carpeted floor.

"I saw people running out of the building to get out of the smoke," the helper said.

Other people fled from the flames onto the roof.

"Then we saw some people jump off," he added.

Video footage circulating online showed the hotel on fire and firefighters desperately fighting the blaze.

Photos from the scene of the accident showed people crowding the building's ledges to avoid the flames.

Another picture showed a man sitting on a windowsill on the hotel's exterior, with thick smoke billowing out of the window behind him.

Jump from burning hotel

The Cambodian police initially spoke of around ten dead and 30 injured.

More than 50 victims of the fire have been hospitalized in neighboring Thailand's Sa Kaeo province.

13 of them are on life support, said Prapas Pookduang of the Thai health authorities.

Sa Kaeo Governor Parinya Phothisat said about 60 other people from the hotel had been screened and released.

A total of 79 Thais, 30 Cambodians and eight Indonesians were examined and treated.

According to the police, the casino hotel has around 400 employees.

According to media reports, foreigners were also in the building at the time of the fire.

The complex was completely destroyed by the fire.

The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs said fire engines had also been sent to the hotel from the Thai side.

Citizens of Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia, are officially banned from gambling in casinos.

However, there are numerous casino hotels along the border with Thailand.

Poipet is a popular holiday destination for visitors from neighboring Thailand, where most forms of gambling are illegal.

The lax handling of safety requirements in pubs and other places of entertainment in the region repeatedly triggers criticism.

There have already been two deadly fires in Cambodia's neighboring countries of Thailand and Vietnam this year.

In August, a fire at a Thai nightclub killed 26 and injured dozens more.

In September, 32 people died in a fire at a karaoke bar in southern Vietnam.