Injured Phnom Penh crush survivor regains conciousness after 60 hours

Sinara Rim was perhaps the first man to fall in the tragic bridge crush in Phnom Penh. He regained consciousness in hospital 60 hours later. With extensive injuries he remains hospitalised and is partially paralyzed. Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 26/11/2010.

Sinara Rim was perhaps the first man to fall in the tragic bridge crush in Phnom Penh. He regained consciousness in hospital 60 hours later. With extensive injuries he remains hospitalised and is partially paralyzed.

26th of November 2010

Demotix

Sinara Rim, 27-years-old, was walking across the diamond bridge around 9.30pm on the last evening of Cambodia’s water festival. A group of men were walking in the opposite direction.

“We were in the centre of the bridge when a man coming towards me pushed me and I fell down. I cannot get up,” he tells me as he sits on his hospital bed this afternoon.

“I woke up in [Calmette] hospital on Thursday at 7am,” he continues. “I feel very lucky to be alive.”
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Cambodian festival to go ahead next year despite stampede

Friday, November 26, 2010
AFP

PHNOM PENH — The Cambodian capital will continue to host an annual water festival despite the deaths of nearly 350 people at this year's event in a stampede on a bridge, an official said.

"The ceremony will still be held as usual," said Chea Kean, deputy secretary general of a government festival committee, adding that it was an "age-old tradition" in the country.

He said it was too soon to say whether Cambodia's most popular festival would attract as many visitors next year in the wake of Monday's disaster, in which 347 people lost their lives, 221 of them women.

"Let's wait and see when we get nearer to the event," said Chea Kean.

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Cambodian water festival will continue despite tragedy

People place offerings and incense sticks for the victims of the stampede near the Diamond Gate bridge, site of a stampede late on November 22 which left nearly 350 people dead, in Phnom Penh on November 25, 2010 as Cambodia holds a national day of mourning. (HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Fri Nov 26 2010
By Lauren Crothers
Special to The Star

PHNOM PENH—The bodies lay on mats, some cocooned in clear plastic body bags. Others were shrouded with thin, white sheets, some blotted with specks of blood. The bodies seemed innumerable, filling the porch area of a makeshift morgue on a sandy plot in Khmer Soviet Hospital.

An anxious crowd overwhelmed hospital officials, sitting at a little table nearby laden with papers and photographs of corpses bearing ID numbers. Relatives wanted to know where their loved ones were.

This was an end no one saw coming when the annual water festival, which ushers in the end to the monsoon season and marks the reversal of the flow of the Tonle Sap river, on the banks of which this mostly sleepy Cambodian capital lies.

The festival, in many ways, is the event of the year, marked by boat races, concerts, fairground rides and an influx of up to 3 million people this year — mostly from the provinces — to the city.
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[Vietnam] VOV raises fund to help Cambodian victims

11/25/2010
VOV News (Hanoi)

Radio the Voice of Vietnam, the Vietnamese Embassy, the Vietnam News Agency and the Overseas Vietnamese in Cambodia donated nearly US$3,000 to support Cambodian victims on November 25.

The amount of money was sent to the related organisation to help the families of the victims to recover after the disaster in Koh Pich amusement park on November 22.

Earlier, many other Vietnamese companies including the Vietnam Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (AGRIBANK), the Saigon Commercial Bank (SACOMBANK) and the Viettel Corporation in Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City raised thousands of dollars and gathered medicine to assist the victims.

Chinese firms offer help to Cambodian stampede victims

Cambodians Thursday mourn the victims of Monday's deadly stampede on the Diamond Gate bridge in Phnom Penh. Photo: AFP

November 26 2010
Source: Global Times

Chinese enterprises in Cambodia have donated $120,000 to the victims of a major stampede Monday night in Phnom Penh, the Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday.

"China and Cambodia enjoy a long-lasting friendship. We feel the same sorrow as the Cambodians do ... and we will do what we can to help them overcome the difficulties," Xinhua quoted Sun Yanqian, secretary-general of the Chinese Business Association in Cam-bodia, as saying in a special council meeting.

The death toll of the tragedy was revised down Thursday to 347 from 456 because some victims had been mistakenly counted twice, the Cambodian social affairs ministry said, according to AFP.
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[Thai] Army extends help to Cambodia

26/11/2010
Bangkok Post

The army has donated 300,000 baht [~$10,000] to Cambodia to provide assistance to families of festival-goers killed and injured in a riverside stampede on Monday night.

Army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha handed the donation to Col Tea Sorachhay, the Cambodian military attache to Thailand on Friday.

The army also offered its condolences to the victims and their families.

Panic spread through a crowd using a bridge to reach an island in the Bassac River in Phnom Penh for the annual festival marking the reversal of the flow of water between Tong Le Sap lake and the Mekhong River, resulting in a stampede which killed 347 people and left hundreds more injured.

Malaysian couple arrested for allegedly abusing Cambodian maid

Nov 26, 2010
DPA

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian police have detained a man and his wife for allegedly beating and whipping their Cambodian maid for almost a year, a newspaper reported Friday.

The unnamed couple, aged 42 and 43, were arrested late Wednesday, a day after the maid ran away from their Kuala Lumpur home and sought help from a neighbour to alert the police, said district acting police chief Abdul Rahim Hamzah Othman.

The 25-year-old maid, who has been working for the couple for slightly over a year, told police she had been abused since January, he said.

'Initial investigations revealed that the couple used a stick and wire to beat the maid,' Abdul Rahim was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.

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សោកនាដកម្ម​នៅ​កោះ​ពេជ្រ

Cambodia mourns fatal stampede

Cambodia mourns fatal stampede

Kiwi 'expects guilty verdict' in Cambodia

Graham Cleghorn

Friday Nov 26, 2010
NZPA

New Zealander Graham Cleghorn - serving a 20-year prison sentence in Cambodia for rape - says he expects to be found guilty in the defamation case against him today.

"I'm going to stand up there and they're going to say `you're guilty, here's the sentence'," he told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

"Find me a case where a foreigner has been found innocent in Cambodia."

Cleghorn, 62, was sentenced by Siem Reap provincial court in 2004 to 20 years' prison for the rape of five girls aged between 14 and 19.
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Cambodia mourns Water Festival dead

"As far as I am concerned we should demolish that bridge in order to prevent future problems. Although it is a newly-constructed bridge, it has killed so many people. So we should destroy it." - So Phum, survivor of Koh Pich tragedy

November 26, 2010

ABC Radio Australia

Crowds of mourners in Cambodia have offered flowers and incense at the site of a stampede that killed 347 people. The government declared a national day of mourning yesterday to honour those who died in the stampede, which was reportedly caused by fears that overcrowded bridge was about to collapse. A tearful Prime Minister Hun Sen, dressed in black, burnt incense at the foot of the narrow bridge, as he led the country at a short service. The stampede took place on the last day of the Water Festival. Questions are yet to be answered as to exactly what went wrong, but survivors say there was not enough security.

Presenter: Robert Carmichael

Speakers: Kep Chuktema, governor of Phnom Penh; Hy Sophan, bridge survivor; Kuth Vy, bridge survivor

Listen: Windows Media

CARMICHAEL: Cambodia held a day of mourning Thursday for 347 people who were crushed to death or suffocated when thousands of people were trapped on a 5-metre-wide pedestrian bridge earlier this week.

A number of ceremonies took place at the bridge that links mainland Phnom Penh across a narrow river to the entertainment area known as Diamond Island.

Thousands came throughout the day to place wreaths and flowers, and to burn incense in memory of those who died. Flags across the country were flown at half-mast.

People discussed the events of Monday evening, standing on the riverbank next to the 100-metre long suspension bridge, which had been cleared of thousands of personal effects - sandals, clothes, water bottles - in time for the ceremony.

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Cambodia stampede: 'I was in the middle. Everyone was falling'

Ben Doherty speaks to survivors of the crush that Cambodia's PM called 'the greatest tragedy in more than 31 years'

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Ben Doherty in Phnom Penh

guardian.co.uk

On Monday night this week the streets of Phnom Penh were full, there were market stalls and music, fairground rides and partygoers crowding every available inch of space in the city.

Sopheap Meng and his older brother Sovaan were on the Rainbow Bridge, a structure spanning barely 50 metres, connecting Cambodia's capital with Koh Pich, also known as Diamond Island, at the heart of the annual Water Festival.

The three-day festival, Bon Om Touk, is the biggest party of the year here. It causes the normally sleepy city to swell by more than 2 million people, international and domestic visitors coming for the parties and the boat races, and to give thanks for the end of the rainy season.

But shortly before 10pm, the night of celebration turned disastrous. A big crowd of people packed on to the narrow Rainbow footbridge panicked, surged and created a crush.

In a few terrifying minutes the crush led to deaths of 378 or more people, and left more than 700 injured. Cambodia's prime minister, Hun Sen, described the occurrence as the greatest tragedy to befall the country since the blood-soaked rule of the Khmer Rouge.
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Question raised on accountability for stampede on national mourning day

by Zhuli Ngoun Sovan

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- When Meas Neang bent down and plug joss sticks into the burner on the altar, the sorrow seemed so heavy that she could hardly stand up again.

"I am not blaming any small and big officials, I just wonder why 'happiness turned to anguish'," said the 57-year-old woman, who came from Kandal province to Phnom Penh to dedicate lotus buds and incense sticks to those killed in Monday's stampede.

She was worried that she might lose her younger brother forever in the tragedy, which, in the final day of the traditional Water Festival, claimed at least 347 lives and injured more than 300 others.

"My brother has gone missing since the stampede. He said he came to enjoy the Water Festival in Phnom Penh and asked me for 100,000 riel ($25) to enjoy the festival," she said, tears in eyes. And after that she had never heard anything about him. "I cannot find him, we asked our relatives, no one has seen him. And it has been three days."

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Questions Remain in Cambodia Crush

People visited the site of the bridge stampede in Phnom Penh on Thursday, paying their respect by offering flowers and prayers and burning incense. (Justin Mott for The New York Times)

Mourners offered prayers for the victims of the bridge stampede in Phnom Penh on Thursday. (Justin Mott for The New York Times)

November 25, 2010
By SETH MYDANS
The New York Times

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — More than two days after hundreds of people died in a huge, tightly jammed crowd on the last night of a water festival, both the cause and the death toll remained unclear on Thursday.

Most of the victims were caught in a crush on a small bridge. Rather than being trampled, the victims suffocated or were crushed to death by a dense, immobile crowd in which some people were trapped for hours.

Various officials gave different counts of the death toll, which may not include victims who drowned or were taken from the scene.

On Wednesday, the government said at least 350 people had died and 400 were injured. But among other tallies on Thursday, the Phnom Penh Post newspaper, citing government sources, said the death toll had climbed to 456.

As grief and shock turned to demands for explanations, questions grew on Thursday over the cause of the crush, over the response by the police and over the city’s readiness to handle an influx of as many as 3 million people for the festival.
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Cambodia: AHRC expresses sympathy, calls for investigation of stampede

Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission
Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza

The AHRC wishes to express the deepest sympathies to the people of Cambodia in the aftermath of the Bon Om Touk festival stampede that this Monday night left at least 375 dead and 755 injured according to Cambodia’s Bayon TV.

Prime Minister Hun Sen recognized Monday night as "the biggest tragedy we have experienced in the last 31 years, since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime." The majority of those who perished were from rural areas. An estimated two-thirds of those who died were women, less able to fight their way from the crowds, indicating the extreme vulnerability of Cambodian women to disaster.

The AHRC calls for the government of Cambodia to adequately care for survivors and the families of those killed. Further, the government must thoroughly investigate the causes of the stampede as well as responses by police, emergency personnel, and hospitals to ensure such a tragedy does not occur again.

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Cambodia gov't revises down death figure of stampede to 347

A Cambodian police officer stand near the bodies of stampede victims as relatives watch at Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh November 23 , 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The latest statement by the sub-committee for urgent settlement on the Diamond Island bridge accident Thursday morning revised the death toll figure of the major stampede to 347, a big drop from the previous 456.

The statement, signed by the chairman of the sub-committee Ith Samheng, who is also the minister of social affairs, said the previous figure of death toll was incorrect due to some overlap in the statistics.

This is a major amendment for the death toll figure of 456 provided by the same sub-committee Wednesday afternoon.

By 00:30 a.m. on Thursday, after verification, 347 were dead in the stampede, of which 126 men and 221 women, said the latest statement.
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Stampede casts lingering shadow over Cambodia's Water Festival

By Zhu Li, Zhang Ruiling

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- In the coming years, the Water Festival at Diamond Island will unlikely carry the traditional festive mood; instead it may become a time of mourning of this year's stampede, a tragedy that consumed at least 375 lives and injured more than 700 others.

The three-day festival, on the full moon days of the Buddhist month of Kadeuk (usually in November), celebrates a major natural occurrence: the reversing flow between the Tonle Sap and the Mekong River.

It is seen as the largest and most exuberant festival in Cambodia, as people from provinces and rural areas will come all the way to the capital city and take part in all kinds of celebrations from fluvial parades, dragon boat races, fireworks to general merriment. The turnout is usually large, and this year the officials had estimated 3 million people from all over the country would fill Phnom Penh up.

The Diamond Island, in the Bassac River neighboring the capital city, became a new eye-catching destination of them since it was the first time that the shiny, modern entertainment complex opened to the public during the festival.

Nobody thought about whether the 8-meter-wide, 100-meter-long bridge is capable of such a big pedestrian flow. So Monday night around 9:30 p.m., when some rumor triggered panic, the tightly packed crowd who tried to flee found themselves trapped on the bridge desperately. As more and more people struggled to rush toward the exit, hundreds were suffocated, trampled, or drowned to death after they jumped into the river.

While this is not the time to finger pointing, but a tragedy of this degree of seriousness and with a high toll in lost of lives, deserves a detailed, complete and transparent investigation to prevent future occurrences.

Lieutenant General Sok Phal, deputy chief of the National Police and vice-president of the special committee for the accident investigation, said on Wednesday the primary assessment was, after inspecting the site and talking with victims and eyewitnesses, that the swinging of the bridge is the cause of the accident.

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Cambodia PM weeps for stampede dead

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen cries during a memorial service near a bridge where festival goers were killed Monday in a stampede in Phnom Penh, Cambodia,Thursday, Nov. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thursday, November 25, 2010
UKPA

Cambodia's prime minister has wept at the spot where hundreds died during a wild riverside stampede, as the country began a day of mourning for victims.

Hun Sen's tears came as he lit candles and incense at the narrow bridge where tens of thousands of festival-goers panicked, trampling hundreds underfoot, on Monday.

There has been confusion over the exact number of deaths. The latest official casualty tally from the incident was 347 dead and 395 injured, down from earlier official figures.

The premier was joined at the Bassac River in the capital Phnom Penh by his wife Bun Rany and cabinet members. Flags throughout the country were flying at half-mast and a Buddhist ceremony was being held.
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Cambodia holds day of mourning for stampede dead

A Cambodian man compares a photo to those of stampede victims at Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010. Thousands of people stampeded during a festival in the Cambodian capital late Monday, leaving over three hundred dead and scores injured in what Prime Minister Hun Sen called the country's biggest tragedy since the 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge

A Cambodian man carries the body of his son killed in a stampede, at Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010. Thousands of people stampeded during a festival in the Cambodian capital late Monday, leaving over three hundred dead and scores injured in what Prime Minister Hun Sen called the country's biggest tragedy since the 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge.

A Cambodian doctor checks blood pressure of survivors of Monday's stampede at Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010.

Survivors of Monday's stampede lie on a bed at Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010. Thousands of people stampeded during a festival in the Cambodian capital late Monday, leaving over three hundred dead and scores injured in what Prime Minister Hun Sen called the country's biggest tragedy since the 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge.

A crowd looks at a bridge where people stampeded during a water festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010. Thousands of people stampeded during the festival in the Cambodian capital, leaving over three hundred dead and scores injured in what the prime minister called the country's biggest tragedy since the 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge. (Heng Sinith, AP Photo)

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010
By SOPHENG CHEANG
Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Cambodia began a day of mourning Thursday with the prime minister weeping at the spot where hundreds died during a wild riverside stampede.

Prime Minister Hun Sen cried as he lit candles and incense at a narrow bridge where thousands of festival-goers panicked, trampling hundreds underfoot on Monday night. He was joined by the Bassac River in the capital Phnom Penh by his wife Bun Rany and Cabinet members. Flags throughout the country were flying at half-mast and a Buddhist ceremony was scheduled for later in the day.

There has been confusion over the death toll from the tragedy. The latest official casualty tally was 347 dead and 395 injured, down from earlier official figures.

A government investigation showed that as the suspension bridge swayed under the weight of thousands of revelers, some began to shout that the structure was going to collapse. Others pushed, heaved and even jumped off the span as a panic took hold that ended in the mass deaths.

"People became panicked when they saw other people fall down, and they started running when they heard cries that the bridge was going to collapse," city police chief Touch Naroth told AP Television News on Wednesday.

The official probe into the accident continues with a final report expected next week, said Om Yentieng, a member of the investigating committee, Thursday. He said earlier casualty figures were not correct due to overlapping of counts by various institutions.

Hun Sen has described the stampede as the biggest tragedy since the communist Khmer Rouge's reign of terror, which killed an estimated 1.7 million people in the late 1970s.

During Thursday's official day of mourning, the Tourism Ministry has asked all entertainment venues, including karaoke parlors, nightclubs, beer gardens and discotheques, to close for the day.

The stampede happened during celebrations of a three-day holiday marking the end of the monsoon season, when as many as 2 million people are believed to have come to the capital. As festivities wrapped up Monday night, tens of thousands flocked to a free concert on an island in the Bassac River.

An estimated 7,000 to 8,000 people were streaming over a bridge that connects the island to the mainland when it began to sway, according to Banyon TV, which serves as a mouthpiece for the government and was citing the investigation committee.

Om Yentieng said there were no signs on the dead bodies that any had been electocuted as some earlier reports suggested.

Street cleaners late Wednesday removed the debris that littered the yellow-and-gray bridge after the disaster: rubber sandals and other footwear, plastic bracelets, water bottles, condom wrappers and pieces of sugar cane pieces, a local snack.

Cambodia's Bon Om Touk Stampede Preventable

November 24, 2010
Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza
Political consultant and writer
Asian Human Rights Commission
Posted at The Huffington Post

In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Bon Om Touk festival stampede that this Monday night caused at least 378 deaths and left more than 700 injured also left open questions about Cambodia's government and its handling of the disaster.

Prime Minister Hun Sen recognized Monday night as "the biggest tragedy we have experienced in the last 31 years, since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime." The majority of those who perished were from rural areas. An estimated two-thirds of those who died were women, less able to fight their way from the crowds, indicating the extreme vulnerability of Cambodian women to disaster.

The government of Cambodia now faces the responsibility of attending to survivors and the families of those killed. Further, the government must thoroughly investigate the causes of the stampede as well as responses by police, emergency personnel, and hospitals to ensure such a tragedy does not occur again. While the exact cause of the stampede last night remains unclear, with contradictory reports indicating it may have been instigated by either crowd antics or poor construction of the bridge to Koh Pich island, the failure of the state to plan for and control the crowd then limit the damage from the stampede is clear.

Poor event planning and management contributed to the disaster. Organizers set up two bridges, 200 meters apart -- one to permit attendees to cross to Koh Pich and a second to permit them to cross back to the city -- but then did not enforce traffic directions. The bridge nearest to the festivities became overrun with people attempting to move in both directions. In the midst of a festival packed with millions of people, the result of conflict and crowding on the bridge was to create the perfect environment for widespread panic.

Military and police attempts to control the crowd may have exacerbated fear and confusion and caused further fatalities. Eyewitness reports state that the military used water cannons on the crowd after the stampede began, electrocuting and killing some of those trapped on the bridge when the water hit exposed electric wiring. The government is directly responsible for the stampede deaths and must make restitution, but restitution cannot be counted only in riel. The Cambodian government owes its people more than the 5 million riel ($1,230) promised to the families of those killed and the 1 million riel ($246) allotted to those who sustained injuries -- the government must make a substantive effort to prevent similar disasters in the future.

Phnom Penh was unprepared for any form of large-scale disaster. Responses by police and military were lacking and may even have contributed to the stampede while hospitals were overwhelmed. Emergency and medical personnel resorted to piling bodies together, covering them with mats or sheets. Families were forced to try to gain access to makeshift morgue tents outside of hospitals to lift the sheets draped over bodies or wander through corridors looking for victims. The capital had only 60 coffins available for victims, requiring that others be gathered from outlying areas to transport bodies as they were identified and claimed by families at the four major hospitals in the area. On Monday, Cambodia's government failed its people at all levels.

HRP Letter of Condolence to Family of Koh Pich Stampede Victims

Please click here to zoom in the letter in Khmer

Cambodia marks memorial day for hundreds who died in bridge crush

Nov 25, 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - Senior government officials laid wreaths on Thursday at a bridge in the capital where hundreds died earlier this week during a crush.

Flags flew at half-mast across the capital as Prime Minister Hun Sen and politicians from all parties laid wreaths and lit incense for 347 revellers known to have died late Monday evening on the final day of the annual Water Festival.

Hundreds of ordinary Cambodians also paid their respects, as did dozens of foreign nationals working in the capital.

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National Mourning at Koh Pich Bridge (Photo: AP, AFP, Reuters)

Cambodia in day of mourning

Nov 25, 2010
AFP

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIANS hold a national day of mourning on Thursday after more than 450 people died in a festival stampede that officials believe was caused by rumours that an overcrowded bridge was collapsing.

Grieving relatives and government officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, were expected to attend an early morning religious ceremony at the scene of the tragedy on Monday, the final day of the Water Festival.

Authorities said the throngs of revellers crossing to an island in Phnom Penh that was one of the main festival sites panicked as rumours rippled through the packed crowd that the bridge was about to give way.

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Cambodia holds day of mourning for stampede victims

Flowers and tributes have been left at the bridge where the tragedy occurred Continue reading the main story (Photo: Reuters)

24 November 2010
BBC News

Cambodia is holding a day of mourning for more than 450 people killed in a festival stampede.

Prime Minister Hun Sen is due to join officials and grieving relatives for a religious ceremony at the footbridge where the tragedy happened.

A preliminary investigation has found that the swaying of the bridge near the capital, Phnom Penh, triggered a panic.

Witnesses said some people were crushed on the bridge, while others fell into the river and drowned.

Crowds of revellers had been crossing the bridge to reach an island where an annual water festival was being held on Monday.
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Anger mounts as Cambodia crush toll rises

Wednesday, November 24, 2010
AFP

Hundreds die in Cambodia stampede The death toll from a bridge stampede during a busy festival in the Cambodian capital has risen to 456, as the victims' grieving relatives expressed anger about security at the event.

Authorities continue to investigate why throngs of revellers panicked, crushing and trampling people underfoot on an overcrowded narrow bridge in Phnom Penh.

The government admitted it had overlooked issues of crowd control at the three-day event, which attracted some three million revellers to the capital from all over Cambodia.

"We were concerned about the possibilities of boats capsizing and pick-pocketing... we did not think about this kind of incident," said government spokesman Khieu Kanharith.

He said a private firm had been in charge of security on the island and the bridge where the disaster unfolded.

"The place is private, so they used their own security, and police only helped handle order outside," Mr Kanharith said.

The firm managing the island refused to comment except to say that it had been questioned by an investigating committee set up by the government.

Searching for answers

As the first funerals and cremations began taking place across the country, bewildered relatives searched for answers.

"I feel very sad and angry about what happened," Phea Channara said at a funeral service for his 24-year-old sister on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

"I wonder if the police really did their job. Why did they allow it to happen in the first place?"

Waiter Choy Bora said he was frustrated with the security response as he watched the clean-up operation of the bridge which had been littered with discarded flip-flops, items of clothing and water bottles after the crush.

At the entrance to the now notorious crossing, still closed off to the public, locals in the mostly Buddhist country burned incense and prayed for the souls of the deceased.

They laid out flowers, cake and bananas as offerings.

Exuberant festival-goers had been crossing the bridge to reach an island hosting concerts, food stalls and ice sculptures when the stampede began.

It was not immediately clear what had triggered the disaster, but Mr Kanharith said a rumour had spread among revellers that the bridge was unstable.

He said many of the deaths were caused by suffocation and internal injuries. About two-thirds of those killed were women.

The event, which saw hundreds of brightly coloured boats take part in races on the Tonle Sap, is popular with tourists but the government said no foreigners were believed to be among the victims.

Prime minister Hun Sen has described the disaster as Cambodia's worst tragedy since the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 reign of terror, which killed up to a quarter of the population. Thursday will be a national day of mourning.

He also said that a memorial stupa will be built "to commemorate the souls of the people who lost their lives in the incident... and to remember the serious tragedy for the nation and the Cambodian people".

Cambodia government seen unscathed from stampede

Wed Nov 24, 2010
By Martin Petty

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A stampede that killed 456 people in Cambodia was sparked by the swaying of a bridge, investigators said on Wednesday in a report that failed to address broader questions facing the government over the deaths.

The preliminary government report, broadcast on media, echoed comments made a day earlier by government spokesman Phay Siphan who said the bridge was designed to sway, but the movement took pedestrians by surprise and some shouted it was broken.

The death toll rose to 456 from 375 on Tuesday with hundreds injured from Monday night's chaotic exodus of thousands of people along the narrow Diamond Gate bridge in the capital Phom Penh.

The disaster has raised plenty of questions -- from why so many people were allowed to enter such a confined space on a small, man-made island to how authorities handled crowds.

Critics have pointed fingers at developers who built the bridge, city authorities organising the festival and security forces. But they say ultimately the buck stops with the government of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The disaster, however, is unlikely to spiral into political damage for Hun Sen, a strongman whose blend of populism and cronyism has kept him in office for a quarter of a century.

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Unstable Bridge Blamed for Deadly Cambodian Stampede

A Cambodian man compares a photo to those of stampede victims at Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 24 Nov 2010 (Photo: AP)

24 November 2010
VOA News

A member of the government panel investigating a fatal stampede in Cambodia says the group has concluded the tragedy was caused by mass panic when an overcrowded bridge began to sway.

Mak Chito, an interior ministry official on the investigating committee, said in a television interview Wednesday that the panel will likely release an official statement in the next few days. He spoke on state-run Bayron TV.

Hundreds of people were on the narrow suspension bridge after attending a festival on an island in Phnom Penh. Officials say 354 people were killed in the crush of bodies as people tried to get off of the bridge.

Officials earlier said 378 were killed, but they explained Wednesday that some of the bodies counted at hospitals had died of other causes. They said 395 people were injured.
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Cambodian Catholics plan special Mass for victims of bridge stampede

By Catholic News Service

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – The Catholic Church in Cambodia planned a special Mass for victims of a bridge stampede during the Water Festival on Diamond Island in Phnom Penh, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.

The chaos Nov. 22 that killed more than 375 people and injured at least 755 was seen as the biggest tragedy for Cambodians since the Pol Pot regime, said Prime Minister Hun Sen. The government announced it will give 5 million riel ($1,230) to each family of the dead for transporting the bodies. It also scheduled Nov. 25 as a national day of mourning.

Catholic Church officials said they would offer a special Mass for the dead Nov. 25 at Psataught Church in the capital.

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Entertainment in Cambodia ordered to close on Thursday to mourn dead from stampede tragedy

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian Ministry of Tourism has ordered all entertainment businesses to close on Thursday to mourn the dead from Monday's stampede tragedy, an official said on Wednesday.

"To join mourning the dead, the Ministry of Tourism instructs the owners of entertainment businesses such as karaokes, night clubs, discotheques, beer gardens, and restaurants entertained with concerts to close their businesses for one day on Nov. 25 from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.," said a directive signed by So Mara, secretary of state for the ministry.

So Mara told Xinhua on Wednesday that the ban is following the order from the government to all ministries and institutions and private enterprises to take Nov. 25 as the national day of mourning the death in the stampede tragedy, and flying national flags with half-mast.
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Cambodia stampede death toll at 456

Nov 24, 2010
The Voice of Russia

The number of victims in the Water Festival stampede that occurred on the night of November 22 in Phnom Penh has risen to 456 people.

This is official information from a dedicated government commission.

According to preliminary reports, peculiarities in the construction of a bridge over the Mekong River, which caused it to rock, led to the panic and ensuing stampede.

Thursday has been declared a day of mourning in Cambodia.

Victims’ families will receive government compensation.

Cambodia stampede death toll at 456

Nov 24, 2010
The Voice of Russia

The number of victims in the Water Festival stampede that occurred on the night of November 22 in Phnom Penh has risen to 456 people.

This is official information from a dedicated government commission.

According to preliminary reports, peculiarities in the construction of a bridge over the Mekong River, which caused it to rock, led to the panic and ensuing stampede.

Thursday has been declared a day of mourning in Cambodia.

Victims’ families will receive government compensation.

Swinging bridge main cause of stampede tragedy

A police officer walks past the bridge at Diamond Island. Primary investigation found swinging bridge is the cause of the deadly stampede on Monday night at Diamond Island's north bridges during the last day of the celebration of the water festival. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

Workers clean the stampede victims' relics at the Diamond Island bridge. Primary investigation found swinging bridge is the cause of the deadly stampede on Monday night at Diamond Island's north bridges during the last day of the celebration of the water festival. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Primary investigation found swinging bridge is the cause of the death of 375 people and the injured of 755 on Monday night at Diamond Island's north bridges during the last day of the celebration of the water festival, said a Cambodia's senior national police on Wednesday.

"Our primary assessment after we inspected the accident site and through the information provided by victims and eyewitnesses found that the swinging bridge is the cause of the accident," Lieutenant General Sok Phal, deputy chief of the National Police and vice-president of the special committee for the accident investigation, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

He said: "It's a kind of suspension bridge, but people were not aware of it and when it (the bridge) swung, some four or five people on it felt dizzy and got fainted."
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Cambodia to build stupa to commemorate dead in stampede

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian government decided to build a stupa to commemorate the dead from the stampede Monday night at Diamond Island bridge, a letter signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday said.

"A stupa must be built to commemorate the people who lost their lives in the accident at the Diamond Island bridge on Nov. 22, 2010 in order to remember this worst tragedy for the nation and Cambodians," said the letter.

The letter arranged Phnom Penh municipality to select the location to build it and Ministry of Council of Ministers, the Finance Ministry, the Interior Ministry, Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction Ministry, Water Resources Ministry, and relevant ministries must comply with this decision.

The stampede tragedy on Monday night at the Diamond Island bridge killed 456 people during the last day of the water festival. Cambodia's Water Festival from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22 is the largest annual festival in the Southeast Asian nation, around 2 million Cambodians, especially those from rural areas converged in the city to enjoy the regatta.

Cambodia stampede prompted by fear of bridge collapse, police say

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010
SOPHENG CHEANG
The Associated Press

As a suspension bridge in the Cambodian capital swayed under the weight of thousands of revelers, some began to shout that the structure was going to collapse. Others pushed, heaved and even jumped off the span as a panic took hold that ended in the deaths of more than 350 people.

Though typical, the movement of the bridge terrified the festival goers — many of whom were in Phnom Penh from the provinces for the end of rainy season and were unfamiliar with such bridges, city police Chief Touch Naroth said Wednesday, citing a government investigation he took part in.

Hundreds trampled in Cambodia “People became panicked when they saw other people fall down, and they started running when they heard cries that the bridge was going to collapse,” Touch Naroth told AP Television News. The police chief shared details of the probe, though an official report has not been released.

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