Stampede At Cambodian Festival Leaves 84 Dead

**English Noodles** · 23-11-2010, 01:44 AM

Breaking News

6:19pm UK, Monday November 22, 2010

Kate Sullivan, Sky News Online
At least 84 people have been killed in a stampede in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh during annual Water Festival celebrations, it has been reported.

Millions of Cambodians were on the streets to mark the end of the festival when the rush happened on a bridge, an official told AFP news agency.
Some reports have put the number of dead at over 100.
More follows...

Cambodia Stampede Kills 84 People In Phnom Penh During End Of Water Festival Celebrations | World News | Sky News

**khmen** · 23-11-2010, 02:12 AM

Terrible scenes, death toll so far is 17 confirmed. PM has made a statement saying potentially over 100 dead.
BBC News - Scores killed in Cambodia festival stampede

Many killed in Cambodia festival stampede

There are fears the death toll will rise further
At least 17 people have been killed in a stampede during Water Festival celebrations in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.
The stampede took place on a bridge leading to a small island in the Tonle Sap river.
A hospital official said 17 bodies were brought in on Monday evening. Police sources reported "many dead".
Large crowds have been celebrating on the final day of the festival, one of the main events in the Cambodian year.

Panic occurred after a concert on Diamond Island, which followed a boat race on the river regarded as a highlight of the festivities.
An eyewitness, soft drink seller So Cheata, told the Associated Press news agency the trouble began when 10 people fell unconscious in the crowd.
The bridge became jammed up with people, some crushed under foot and others falling into the water.
Hundreds of injured lay on the ground afterwards, the eyewitness said

**khmen** · 23-11-2010, 02:28 AM

Just been updated, at least 180 dead. RIP.
Scores killed in Cambodia festival stampede

There are fears the death toll will rise further
At least 180 people been killed in a stampede during festival celebrations in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, Prime Minister Hun Sen has said.
Huge crowds had gathered on a small island for the Water Festival, one of the main events in the Cambodian year.
The stampede took place on a bridge. An eyewitness told AP news agency the trouble began when 10 people fell unconscious in the crowd.
Hundreds are reported to have been injured in the crush.

The authorities had estimated that more than two million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day festival.
Panic occurred after a concert on Diamond Island, which followed a boat race on the Tonle Sap river regarded as a highlight of the festivities.
The bridge became jammed up with people, some crushed under foot and others falling into the water.
Eyewitnesses speak of bodies littering the area.

**blue** · 23-11-2010, 02:33 AM

Cambodia's prime minister says more then 180 people have died in a stampede during the celebration of a water festival in the capital.
Authorities had estimated that upward of two million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day water festival, which marks the end of the rainy season and whose main attraction is traditional boat races along the river.
A witness said the crowd began to panic when a few people fell unconscious in the crush.

**blue** · 23-11-2010, 02:35 AM

thanks for breaking the story noodles , MKP , got it faster than ,asian news channel

**khmen** · 23-11-2010, 02:50 AM

Death toll at 339 on BBC now.Must have been horrific.

**harrybarracuda** · 23-11-2010, 03:12 AM

How much stuff robbed? Are you really surprised? Probably more people died during the Haj that didn't get reported.

It's called THIRD WORLD.

**Smug Farang Bore** · 23-11-2010, 03:30 AM

^ Good point mate.

Worthwhile imput - fast - useful member of this online community.

**khmen** · 23-11-2010, 03:54 AM

Robbed? Surprised? Muslims at Haj? Third World? Dont really see your point mate.

Anyway, some photos:BBC News - In pictures: Cambodia's deadly stampede

**jizzybloke** · 23-11-2010, 04:29 AM

Over 330 die in stampede at Cambodian festival

By SOPHENG CHEANG, Associated Press Sopheng Cheang, Associated Press – 18 mins ago
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Thousands of people stampeded during a festival in the Cambodian capital Monday night, leaving more than 330 dead and hundreds injured in what the prime minister called the country's biggest tragedy since the 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge.
Some in the panicky crowd — who were celebrating the end of the rainy season on a sliver of land in a river — tried to flee over a bridge and were crushed underfoot or fell over its sides into the water.
Ambulances raced back and forth between the river and the hospitals for several hours after the stampede. Calmette Hospital, the capital's main medical facility, was filled to capacity with bodies as well as patients, some of whom had to be treated in hallways. Many of the injured appeared to be badly hurt, raising the prospect that the death toll could rise as local hospitals became overwhelmed.
Hours after the chaos, the dead and injured were still being taken away from the scene, while searchers looked for bodies of anyone who might have drowned. An Associated Press reporter saw one body floating in the river, and hundreds of shoes left behind on and around the bridge.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, in his third post-midnight live television broadcast, said that 339 people had been killed and 329 injured. He described the chaos as the biggest tragedy to strike his country since the communist rule of the Khmer Rouge, whose radical policies are blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people during the 1970s.
He ordered an investigation into the cause of the stampede and declared Thursday would be a national day of mourning. Government government ministries were ordered to fly the flag at half-staff.
Authorities had estimated that upward of 2 million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day water festival, which marks the end of the rainy season and whose main attraction is traditional boat races along the river.
The last race ended early Monday evening, the last night of the holiday, and the panic started later on Koh Pich — Diamond Island — a long spit of land wedged in a fork in the river where a concert was being held. It was unclear how many people were on the island to celebrate the holiday, though the area appeared to be packed with people, as were the banks.
Soft drink vendor So Cheata said the trouble began when about 10 people fell unconscious in the press of the crowd. She said that set off a panic, which then turned into a stampede, with many people caught underfoot.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith gave a similar account of the cause.
Seeking to escape the island, part of the crowd pushed onto a bridge, which also jammed up, with people falling under others and into the water. So Cheata said hundreds of hurt people lay on the ground afterward. Many appeared to be unconscious.
Cambodia is one of the region's poorer countries, and has an underdeveloped health system, with hospitals barely able to cope with daily medical demands.
Koh Pich used to host a slum community, but in recent years the poor have been evicted to make way for high-rise and commercial development, most yet to be realized.

**Mid** · 23-11-2010, 05:02 AM

Hundreds die in tragic end to water festival
Tuesday, 23 November 2010

A mourner weeps amid several covered bodies at Calmette Hospital early this morning following a stampede that killed hundreds on the northen Koh Pich bridge during the water festival.
Photo by: Pha Lina

Hundreds died and hundreds more were injured last night in a stampede on Diamond Island’s north bridge, bringing a tragic close to the final day of water festival celebrations in Phnom Penh.

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced via video conference at 2:30am that 339 people had been confirmed dead and 329 injured.

“With this miserable event, I would like to share my condolences with my compatriots and the family members of the victims,” he said.

“This needs to be investigated more.”

A committee would be set up to examine the incident.

“This is the biggest tragedy since the Pol Pot regime,” he said, adding that Cambodia would hold a national day of mourning tomorrow.

The cause of the stampede has not yet been confirmed, but Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said it happened because “one million people”, many of whom were leaving the island, became “scared of something.”

Municipal Police Chief Touch Naruth also could not confirm the series of events that led to the disaster.

“People were afraid and began to trample each other and some jumped into the river,” he said at the scene.

Bedlam ensued as the frenzied crowd began to push its way off the bridge, causing a jam that made it nearly impossible to breathe, according to witnesses.

With no other escape route, hundreds of people began jumping off the suspension bridge.

Sirens started to awaken city residents minutes later as ambulances, police cars and emergency vehicles began rushing to the scene, where they had to clear away the crowd before reaching victims.

Boats were called in to pull people out of the water and ferry others across the narrow Bassac River to the shore in front of the Royal Palace, where emergency workers fought through the crowd of frantic onlookers to care for the injured.

The bodies of victims were taken away in ambulances, flat-bed trucks and motor-bikes to area hospitals as police struggled to clear away the crowd by shouting, pushing and beating them back with their belts.

As the scene cleared, many bodies remained on the road, which was littered with shoes, shirts, pants and other objects dropped in the mayhem. Pieces of cardboard were placed over the heads of those obviously dead, while bystanders fanned people thought to be still alive.

Area hospitals confirmed that hundreds were either dead on arrival or died soon after, with witnesses on hand giving various explanations for the initial cause of the stampede and the actual cause of deaths.

A doctor at Calmette hospital, who declined to give his name, said after a preliminary assessment the principal causes of death among the victims he had examined were suffocation and electrocution.

Ouk Sokhhoeun, 21, was at the scene with his sister, 23-year-old Ouk Srey Mom, who was left unconscious and taken to Calmette hospital, said that military police started firing water cannons into the crowd on the bridge after the stampede had already caused scores of people to fall unconscious.

He said the water caused many people on the bridge to receive electric shocks from the cables lighting the bridge, at which point “some police also received electric shocks”.

phnompenhpost.com

**blue** · 23-11-2010, 05:08 AM

''Most of the victims were crushed or drowned, after thousands panicked when several people were electrocuted while celebrating the end of an annual water festival. .''

electrocted ? hope they catch who is to blame

**khmen** · 23-11-2010, 05:24 AM

Awful. Dont watch the 2nd video if you're easily upset.

And a Phnom Penh Post reporter saying the police caused the stampede by firing a water cannon at the crowd:

[Updated at 4:25 p.m.] Steve Finch, a Phnom Penh Post reporter, told CNN that the stampede at the water festival in Phnom Penh began around 10 p.m. Monday (10 a.m. ET), when police began firing a water cannon onto a bridge to an island in the center of a river.
The bridge was packed with people, and police fired the water cannon in an effort to get them to move, he said.
"That just caused complete and utter panic," he told CNN in a telephone interview. He said a number of people lost consciousness and fell into the water; some may have died by electric shock, he said.
Watch: "It was chaos," reporter says
Finch cited witnesses as saying that the bridge was festooned with electric lights, which may have played a role in the deaths.
The government denied anyone died by electric shock.
But a doctor who declined to be identified publicly said the main cause of death was suffocation and electric shock. Police were among the dead, he said.
While Finch said the incident apparently coincided with the firing of the water cannon, a witness, Ouk Sokhhoeun, 21, told the Phnom Penh Post that the stampede began first.

Cambodian minister: 339 dead in stampede – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

**teddy** · 23-11-2010, 06:16 AM

very upsetting - RIP

**phunphin** · 23-11-2010, 07:54 AM

I wonder if any attempt was made to revive people???

**PaulBunyon** · 23-11-2010, 08:01 AM

Wow! We aren't surprised. It's always only a matter of time in places like Cambodia and Thailand. This time the numbers are just a bit higher than usual. Notice all the people seem to be older. That says something about what was going on there. Glad to hear no young children seemed to be involved this time.

**keda** · 23-11-2010, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by DrAndy

Originally Posted by LooseBowels

Why oh why do they (asians) continue to pursue these ding dong traditions that continue to result in such fcukin tradgedy.

because they are brilliant

if you have ever attended any of these traditional fstivals, you would understand why

it is up to the organisers to try to make it safer and set some limits; even the haj has recurring tragedies, despite SA being incredibly rich

Tragedy but common enough esp in the 3rd World. For myself and I expect most farangs that are part of a heaving mass of bodies in a festive mood, make sure to stay on the outside and if indoors not too far from an escape hatch.

No doubt the Cambodian authorities will find someone to blame and off him fast before the truth gets out that they're clueless on crowd control that doesn't involve Kalashnikovs.

**keda** · 23-11-2010, 08:23 AM

The cops kicking off a stampede with water canon figures, but I don't get the electrocution bit without an exposed cable unless it was flailing loose or people were lining up to touch it.

I hope the material truths will come out eventually, and that they'll be acted upon, though it'll probably be in conflict with the official version of the 'committee' because there are too many witnesses to silence.

**The Bold Rodney** · 23-11-2010, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by keda

I hope the material truths will come out eventually, and that they'll be acted upon, though it'll probably be in conflict with the official version of the 'committee' because there are too many witnesses to silence.

Any official report will no doubt be somewhat "watered down".

**Happyman** · 23-11-2010, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by blue

several people were electrocuted

According to the BBC report on this tragedy people tried to escape the crush by climbing off the bridge using electricity cables to hang on to - they broke and electrocuted many .

**Mid** · 23-11-2010, 01:55 PM

DEADLY STAMPEDE AT CAMBODIAN FESTIVAL

Flip-flops amid bodies
Nov 23, 2010

CAUSE OF STAMPEDE UNKNOWN

*The cause of the stampede remained unclear on Tuesday, but witnesses reported pushing and shoving in the crowd, while government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said a rumour had spread that the bridge was unstable.
'So panic started. It was too crowded and they had nowhere to run,' he said.

* At the city's Calmette hospital, several hundred worried relatives gathered outside trying to identify missing loved ones.
They strained to catch glimpses of rows of bodies laid out under a white tent in the hospital car park. Policemen fingerprinted the bodies, as all around people made frantic phone calls describing the outfits of the deceased.

*The victims' uncovered faces showed many had sustained bloody bruises during the stampede. -- AFP

Cambodian military police look at shoes and other debris left on a bridge by victims following a stampede in Phnom Penh. PHOTO: AFP

PHNOM PENH - SUNGLASSES, flip-flops and brightly coloured clothes lay scattered among lifeless bodies as day broke on Tuesday on the narrow Phnom Penh bridge where over 340 revellers were trampled to death.

Military police laid out the dead from Monday night's stampede near the Koh Pich bridge, still decked with bright lights from the huge annual water festival that drew millions into the streets the night before.

Revellers lingered in tears as the bruised bodies of youths in party clothes were carried away from the scene of the panicked crush, now sealed with police tape. Many of the dead appeared to be teenagers, two thirds of them women.

Exuberant festival-goers had been crossing the bridge to reach an island hosting concerts, food stalls and ice sculptures before the crowd turned to a desperate crush of human bodies.

'We were crossing the bridge to Diamond Island when people started pushing from the other side. There was lots of screaming and panic,' survivor Kruon Hay, 23, told AFP at the scene.

The stampede killed at least 349 people and injured more than 400. Television footage showed dozens of people piled on top of each other, some still alive and struggling, others clearly dead.

straitstimes.com

**Pol the Pot** · 23-11-2010, 01:59 PM

370 is the latest casualty figure.

**keda** · 23-11-2010, 03:09 PM

Could go much higher if the people get pissed off.

**StrontiumDog** · 23-11-2010, 03:49 PM

Shocking. I'm lost for words.

So many families will be grieving today.

Just horrible.

RIP

**The Muffinman** · 23-11-2010, 04:25 PM

Truly awful, what a tragedy.

So many young lives lost, families shattered.

RIP

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