A traditional dragon boat. Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of five Singaporean men who were killed in a dragon boat accident during Cambodia's annual water festival, police said Sunday. (AFP/File/Patrick Lin)Nov 25, 2007
DPA
Phnom Penh - Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni officially closed the nation's three-day Water Festival Sunday but the ceremony was tainted by tragedy after police divers earlier in the day recovered the bodies of five missing Singaporean rowers.
The five young men had been missing since their dragon boat capsized Friday during the annual races in the capital, Phnom Penh municipal police chief Touch Naroth said.
'The search began again early this morning and we found all five bodies at the confluence of the three rivers less than 2 kilometres from where they fell into the water,' Naroth said.
He said the bodies had been recovered after Cambodian police enlisted the help of local fishermen familiar with the area's notoriously dangerous currents, in a search hampered by poor visibility in the muddy waters.
'Their bodies were in good condition and had no obvious injuries. It seems they were simply caught up in the currents and drowned,' Touch Naroth said.
The Singaporean university graduates tumbled from their boat as they were trying to dock after a race in what witnesses described as a freak accident. They were not wearing life jackets.
Another 17 members of the Singaporean crew were immediately rescued and treated for minor injuries following the accident, which occurred late Friday afternoon.
A massive rescue effort failed to locate five other rowers after the narrow wooden longboat capsized as the light failed, and police feared the worst as early as Saturday morning after so many hours in the strong currents of the Tonle Sap river.
The Tonle Sap meets the Tonle Bassac and Mekong rivers just after the finish line of the three-day annual races, where it forms whirlpools and powerful currents.
Some 432 boats competed in the Water Festival this year, which celebrates the end of the monsoon season.
'We would like to express our sincere condolences and our deep regret at the loss of the five Singaporean lives,' organizer Bou Chum Srey said.
Organizers said they could not remember the last time fatalities had been recorded at the races.
The five young men had been missing since their dragon boat capsized Friday during the annual races in the capital, Phnom Penh municipal police chief Touch Naroth said.
'The search began again early this morning and we found all five bodies at the confluence of the three rivers less than 2 kilometres from where they fell into the water,' Naroth said.
He said the bodies had been recovered after Cambodian police enlisted the help of local fishermen familiar with the area's notoriously dangerous currents, in a search hampered by poor visibility in the muddy waters.
'Their bodies were in good condition and had no obvious injuries. It seems they were simply caught up in the currents and drowned,' Touch Naroth said.
The Singaporean university graduates tumbled from their boat as they were trying to dock after a race in what witnesses described as a freak accident. They were not wearing life jackets.
Another 17 members of the Singaporean crew were immediately rescued and treated for minor injuries following the accident, which occurred late Friday afternoon.
A massive rescue effort failed to locate five other rowers after the narrow wooden longboat capsized as the light failed, and police feared the worst as early as Saturday morning after so many hours in the strong currents of the Tonle Sap river.
The Tonle Sap meets the Tonle Bassac and Mekong rivers just after the finish line of the three-day annual races, where it forms whirlpools and powerful currents.
Some 432 boats competed in the Water Festival this year, which celebrates the end of the monsoon season.
'We would like to express our sincere condolences and our deep regret at the loss of the five Singaporean lives,' organizer Bou Chum Srey said.
Organizers said they could not remember the last time fatalities had been recorded at the races.
18 comments:
Foreigners: Please DO stay away from Cambodia whether business or pleasure, because your personal safety is not assured.
Had these five ill-fated Singaporian rowers assured, their lives have not been lost worthlessly in a foreign country.
The Cambodian government launched rescue operation JUST to save face.
Yes, reality hurts.
My heart goes out to the families of these five young men. It is a tragedy that all of us in the Dragon Boat community share.
Wrong, 3:00, the only people that should stay away from Cambodia is Ah Khmer-Yuon criminals and squatters.
Right 7:08, Ah Khmer Yuon Hun Sen criminal should stay away from Cambodia.
Nope, PM Hun Sen is Khmer liberator, not criminal, only Ah Khmer-Yuon illegal immigrants are criminals, and we have to deport those useless people back to Vietnam, no gain no lost, remember?
You must respect Mother Nature and Mother Nature will respect you!
Yes, and btw, here some more source that contain more data of the incident:
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,148811,00.html?
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_180490.html
I am still not too clear as how the incident happened from conflicting informations.
We should also interviewed all of the Singaporean team members and get all of the informations that they can provided.
Also, I remembered seen a capsized red dragon boat on the first day on TVK. There were a lot of people in red uniform hanging on to the upside-down boat to stay a float. The water in the are area appeared to be normal with little ripple created by the breeze, but not violent, and no one was struggling for their life or anything. They was just patiently waited to be rescue. It was only for about 10-15 second though before the camera panned back to cover the race.
If these Singaporean wear a life jacket and the outcome of the tragic story would have been different!
8:45 AM……what the fuck r u talking about, u prawn brain. R Hun Sen is Ar Khmer-Youn. U stupid if u don't know and can't use words properly go to eat more dog shit…..
Maybe, but not when you get suck down by the swirl current. Depending on the size of it, the damn thing can swallowed and aircraft carrier, believe it or not?
You Cambodian people all fucked people. Big heads with small brains. You people need to be self-sufficient instead of depend on other countries to feed you.
You people are fucked and stupid. Also, your prime minister is really fucked up individual, so all you people.
Hey, don't blamed us (Khmers) for all this mess. We did not created it. It was your westerner trained people who did it, remember?
To 1:30PM Fuck you mother fucker!
Hey! The fucken Vietcong want a friendly nation next to them and they installed AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave since 1979 and up to now!
The Vietcong slave government even stages a coup d'tate in 1997 to regain their power! I am talking about a sore loser!
Fuck you and your generation and if you want to fuck with Cambodian people and you are fucking with me and I suggest that you better turn around mother fucker!
So you have big brain and small dick huh? And I am willing to bet that you can even satisfy your wife every night. Is this how you show your sexual frustration? Talk no more pinky brain and soon your wife will divorce you because of your small dick! Ahahhahh!
Why is everyone here is so disgruntly upset? Had not been for for our prime minister, all of you might be six-feet under already. All of you should be thankful for the liberator.
MOI
MOI = More Of Insanity! ahahhahhah!
8:43 AM: MOI is an ACRONYM for "Move over insect" you're not welcome your participation and involvement of our government, because you're abysmally insane; also, we don't want to pollute our government climate.
MOI
hahaha, you're right, 1:06. There are lots of ticks and fleas here. We going to need extra strength pesticides to repel them out of the way.
The primary responsibility of the Ministery of Information (MOI) is to ensure that these infected cockroaches are out of the Cambodia prior to making an entry into the Kingdom of Cambodia. Cockroaches have arguably the most severe infestation per se, and, therefore, as a preventive procedure, we need to quarantine them before causing a major pandemic.
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