A fire that raged for more than 12 hours in a Cambodian hotel-casino has killed at least 19 people and injured more than 60 and authorities continue searching for dozens of unaccounted staff and guests.

The blaze at Grand Diamond City started about midnight and continued burning Thursday afternoon, Cambodian police said. Neighboring Thailand sent firetrucks and emergency workers to help fight the fire in the border town of Poipet.

About 400 people were in the building when the fire broke out. Some victims were believed to still be under debris or in locked rooms that rescue teams could not immediately access. The death toll is expected to rise, Sek Sokhom, head of Banteay Meanchey province's information department, told The Associated Press.

Images show the aftermath of the raging fire at the Cambodian hotel-casino.

Cambodia's firefighting agency posted a video showing onlookers shouting pleas to rescue people trapped on the roof of the hotel complex, which is more than a dozen stories tall at its highest point.

The video showed at least one man falling as the flames reached the roof.

Peerapan Srisakorn, a Thai Aranyaprathet Rescue Foundation representative, said his crews found 11 bodies, including seven who had died from smoke inhalation in locked hotel rooms. Others died after jumping from windows.

"Two people died immediately when they hit the ground and around four to five (others) broke their legs," Peerapan told CNN. He said thick smoke made it difficult for rescue workers to locate victims.

Most of the dead and injured were Thai, and some were Indonesian and Filipino, reports the New York Times. Many of the injured were taken to hospitals in Thailand for treatment.

Cambodia is one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries and its citizens are officially barred from playing in the casinos.

The hotel-casino sits just across the border from Aranyaprathet in Thailand. It is owned by Vatana Asavahame, a former cabinet minister who fled the country in 2008 before being convicted in connection with one of the biggest corruption scandals in the country's history, according to the Bangkok Post.

A volunteer with the Ruamkatanyu Foundation said the blaze started on the first floor but spread quickly along the carpets, leaping up through the multi-story building.

The Grand Diamond City blaze follows two other deadly fires in entertainment venues in Southeast Asia this year. In August, a fire broke out at a Thai nightclub killing 26 people and injuring scores more. In September, a blaze broke out in southern Vietnam, killing 32 people in a karaoke bar.

Thailand