Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Seth Mydans
The New York Times
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Injured survivors lay on the floors of crowded hospitals Tuesday as the dead were loaded into coffins after one of the worst stampedes in recent years killed at least 378 people at a holiday celebration.
The cause of the stampede Monday night during Cambodia's annual water festival was unclear, but most of the dead were suffocated, trampled or crushed to death on a small bridge that became so packed that survivors said they had been unable to move or even breathe.
Some of the dead drowned or were killed when they leaped from the bridge into the Bassac River or onto concrete pilings nearby. Witnesses said some people were wedged for hours among the dead, calling out for water, as police used batons to push back crowds so they could clear the bridge.
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