A nightclub fire in Cambodia has killed eight people, including six Chinese nationals and two Vietnamese people at the weekend in downtown capital Phnom Penh. Local police said the fire was caused by a short circuit in the electrical wiring.

A 46-year-old Hong Kong man was among eight victims. The five other Chinese nationals included a 29-year-old woman from central China's Hunan Province, as well as four men from south China's Guangdong, all aged from 23 to 30.

Phnom Penh Municipal Police spokesman San Sok Seiha said the victims were construction workers who were renovating the interior of the building when the fire broke out on Saturday evening. They died of suffocation.

The police have started investigation into the accident and arrested four people, San Sok Seiha said.

Cambodia recorded 454 fire accidents across the country in 2022, with 42 people killed and 55 others injured, according to Cambodia's National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM).

According to the NCDM, a major fire killed 26 people at the Grand Diamond City hotel and casino in Poipet, a town bordering Thailand, in December 2022.