At least 375 dead in stampede at festival in Cambodia

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PHNOM PENH, Nov. 23 Kyodo -
The death toll has risen to at least 375 in a horrific stampede Monday night in
the Cambodian capital during an annual water festival, the government said
Tuesday.
The government announced on a state-run television that at least 755 people
were also injured, adding that over half the casualties were women.
Many drowned, suffocated or were trampled while trying to leave a narrow bridge
connecting Phnom Penh to a nearby island where tens of thousands had gathered
to celebrate the end of the three-day water festival.
During a speech broadcast to the nation early Tuesday morning, Prime Minister
Hun Sen said that he had set up a special committee to investigate the
incident.
He said it was the biggest tragedy in the country in more than 31 years since
the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, referring to the mass killings of the Khmer
Rouge between 1975 and 1979.
The bodies were taken to eight different hospitals in Phnom Penh, which were
crowded with people searching for friends or relatives.
Kim Kov, 53, farmer living about 45 kilometers north of Phnom Penh, said he was
shocked after learning his two daughters, aged 17 and 21, were killed in the
stampede.
He said after being called by his daughters' friends he immediately rushed to
Phnom Penh on his motorbike.
The stampede happened around 9:30 p.m. Monday. Some survivors said it was
triggered by panicked shouts that people had fainted or been electrocuted,
while others said it was caused by fears that the bridge was going to collapse.
No foreigners were reported among the victims.
Hun Sen declared Thursday a day of mourning day and vowed to provide each
victim's family with 5,000,000 riel (about $1,250) for funeral expenses.
On Tuesday afternoon, some 400 Buddhist monks chanted at the site of the
tragedy and lit incense to bless the dead.
Chea Kean, deputy secretary general of the National Committee for Organizing
National and International Festivals, said there were about 3 million people,
mostly from the countryside, who flocked to the city for the festival, which is
the biggest event of the year.
==Kyodo
2010-11-23 23:07:39