THE Cambodian prime minister has said he will personally oversee the rescue operation after a seven-storey building collapsed, killing at least 18 workers and injuring 24.

Hun Sen has flown to the site in the seaside resort town of Sihanoukville, where the under-construction building collapsed on top of dozens of workers sleeping inside.

Rescuers have been digging through the rubble in search of anyone buried.

Authorities have questioned four Chinese people who were involved with the project.

Construction workers said the unfinished building doubled as their housing, with the crew spending nights there.

Nhor Chandeun and his wife were asleep about 4am on Saturday when they heard a loud noise and the building crumbled on top of them.

“All the workers were asleep,” the 31-year-old said from a hospital in the city. “A moment before the building collapsed it was vibrating and then it was falling down. But it was too quick to escape.”

Officials said 30 workers were at the site when the building collapsed. But Mr Chandeun, who was trapped inside the wreckage with his wife for 12 hours before being rescued, estimated the total at 55 to 60.

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