POIPET, Cambodia (AFP) — The death toll from a fire at a Cambodian hotel-casino near the border with Thailand has risen to at least 25, a Cambodian official said Friday.

"The death toll now is around 25," Sek Sokhom, director of the Banteay Meanchey provincial information department, said, adding some of the bodies that had been recovered were found along staircases within the complex.

Rescuers scoured the charred ruins of a Cambodian hotel and casino complex Friday, warning they expected to find "many more" victims of a deadly fire that forced people to jump from windows.

Hundreds of people are believed to have been inside the Grand Diamond City hotel-casino, located within sight of Poipet town on the Thai border, when the blaze broke out around 11:30 p.m. local time Wednesday.

Photos and videos from the scene showed people huddling on windowsills, with a rescuer telling AFP he witnessed people desperately jumping from the roof to escape the encroaching flames.

"We believe there are many more bodies still trapped inside the compound," a Cambodian police officer at the site told AFP as rescuers began entering the burned complex.

Hundreds of Cambodian army and police officers, along with volunteers from Thailand, are taking part in the search.

Smoke was still occasionally rising from the complex as rescuers prepared to re-enter the gutted buildings at around 7 a.m., with fire trucks on standby at the scene.

Casino hotspot

A rescuer from the group, who asked not to be named, described the building as "unstable" and said the search would have to proceed cautiously.

Many of those injured have been taken to Thailand for treatment, with local officials on the Thai side of the border saying more than 50 had been hospitalized, with 13 in critical condition.

A Grand Diamond City worker, who asked not to be named as it might affect her job, told AFP that she was working on the third floor of the 17-floor hotel wing when the blaze broke out.

"At first, it was not a huge fire," she said. But she and a co-worker were soon forced to flee outside when the flames began rampaging towards them.

"(The fire) got huge rapidly," she said, still in a state of shock over the destruction and death caused by the blaze.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday expressed condolences for victims of the fire, calling it "a tragedy at the end of the year."

The casino is one of many in Poipet, a border town popular with Thais who face strict restrictions on gambling within the kingdom.

Thailand's foreign ministry said it was working closely with Cambodian authorities to find and identify Thais involved in the incident and sending "additional equipment, consular officers and a police attache" to Poipet.

While gambling by Cambodians is illegal under the country's laws, numerous casino-filled hotspots have flourished along its borders with Thailand and Vietnam.