Published on: January 7, 2025, 09:02h.
Last updated on: January 7, 2025, 09:11h.
An estimated 57 workers managed to escape from Cambodia’s O-Smach Resort on Sunday after enduring harsh work conditions at the casino for several months, news outlets reported.
The workers were seen running out of the guarded and gated complex in the Asian nation’s Oddar Meanchey province, holding metal rods from bed frames, as reported by witnesses and police.
Injuries Suffered During Escape
“Guards were unable to stop or resist them, leading to two of them getting injured,” stated an unnamed eyewitness cited in media coverage. “They overpowered the security guards, opened the door, and fled.”
Radio Free Asia, an independent news outlet run by the US government, detailed the abuse suffered by these workers at the northern Cambodian gambling site.
In September, accusations arose linking Ly Yong Phat and his L.Y.P. Group to human trafficking and forced labor at O-Smach Resort and other gaming venues. The US Department of the Treasury sanctioned these operations.
O-Smach Resort, situated near the Cambodia-Thailand border, is also known to house an online gambling operation accused by the US government of cheating players.
Employees at the resort are subjected to long work hours daily and strict quotas. If they failed to meet these targets, they were physically assaulted, as reported by Radio Free Asia.
Victims are made to work up to 15 hours a day by traffickers and, in certain instances, are sold to other fraudulent operations or forced into sex trafficking,” according to a statement from the US Treasury Department issued last year.
From 2022 to 2024, the police carried out investigations at O-Smach Resort.
“Victims were lured to O-Smach Resort with false job promises, had their phones and passports confiscated upon arrival, and were coerced into participating in fraudulent schemes,” as per the US Treasury Department.
Allegations of Beatings and Abuse
“Individuals seeking help reported being physically abused, subjected to electric shocks, extorted for a large ransom, or threatened with being handed over to other online fraud groups,” the US statement added. “There have been two instances of victims jumping to their death from buildings within O–Smach Resort.”
Earlier, local authorities conducted rescue missions at the resort, one of which occurred last March.
It is believed that many of the workers who escaped on Sunday originally hailed from Nepal and Pakistan before moving to Cambodia. Several of these workers are now looking to find employment at casinos in Poipet, approximately 124 miles away from O-Smach Resort, as reported by Radio Free Asia.
The escaped workers were questioned by local police on Sunday.