Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Cambodia Water Festival turns tragic with deadly stampede

At least 339 people died in the stampede, according to Prime Minister Hun Sen, who called it a terrible tragedy. The Water Festival has seen troubles in past years.

November 22, 2010
By Julie Masis, Correspondent
Christian Science Monitor

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - A stampede in Cambodia late Monday night killed at least 339 people and injured as many more, with hospital officials projecting the death toll would continue to rise.

The stampede happened during Cambodia's annual Water Festival, which drew a record 4 million people from around the country and region to watch three days of traditional boat races on the Bassac River in the capital.

Prime Minister Hun Sen called it the "biggest tragedy since the Pol Pot regime." While the comparison is extreme – the Khmer Rouge caused the deaths up to 2 million people in the late 1970s – this is the most deadly incident at a festival plagued by repeated problems.


A Singaporean boat capsized in 2008 and killed five rowers, and one Cambodian rower drowned in 2009. The latest incident raises questions whether the government has the capabilities to handle the ever larger festival crowds, which have increased by several million people in recent years and overwhelmed Phnom Penh's facilities.

The stampede broke out on a recently built bridge that crosses from the mainland over the Bassac River to Diamond Island, where a concert was held Monday night to conclude the Water Festival.

Yan San, who was visiting from outside the city, says the bridge became clogged at 9 p.m., a stampede began at 11 p.m., and he himself was stuck on the bridge until 1 a.m. with is legs injured.

“People were stuck on the bridge, they could not move, so they pushed others into the water," says Mr. Yan, sitting in a wheelchair outside Calmette Hospital, where he and hundreds of others were being treated. "I was stuck on the bridge for five hours and I could not move."

Prime Minister Hun Sen addressed the nation at 2:30 a.m. local time and updated the toll to 339 people dead and 329 injured, according to the Phnom Penh Post. “With this miserable event, I would like to share my condolences with my compatriots and the family members of the victims,” he said.

As the night wore on at Calmette, more than 50 bodies were laid in the hospital's courtyard for family members to identify. Ambulances continued to arrive early into Tuesday morning. The hospital was inundated with patients sitting in hallways and lying on floors awaiting treatment.

The exact cause of the stampede was unclear. Reuters reported that a scare was set off when several people were electrocuted from an unknown source. CNN reported that Cambodian police sparked the stampede by firing a water canon at pedestrians to get them to move off the bridge.

“A lot of people jumped into the water because they knew how to swim and they were scared they would die otherwise," says Kim Houng, who was being treated at Calmette early Tuesday morning after passing out on the bridge.

“If I was on the side of the bridge, I would have jumped in the water, too.”

(With additional reporting from Phok Dorn in Cambodia.)

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, Hun Sen is really manipulating the history. "Prime Minister Hun Sen called it the "biggest tragedy since the Pol Pot regime." While the comparison is extreme – the Khmer Rouge caused the deaths up to 2 million people in the late 1970s – this is the most deadly incident at a festival plagued by repeated problems".

The fact is this is the biggest tradegy afer K-5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Koh Pich Bridge is an incident.

But Koh Pich Bridge is not standard because of corruption.

So the corruption of Koh Pich Bridge construction is not and incident.

It is a long plan to kill Khmer people by outspreading corruption from top to bottom in Cambodia to kill and weaken Khmer people.

Anonymous said...

I'm so saddened to see my beloved people were killed in this tragedy.
WTF with that bridge?

Anonymous said...

7:53AM, I agree with you K-5 plan after 1979 is a lot bigger then the Khmer victims of Koh Pich Bridge incident .

If you do not mind 7:53AM please pass it on to other blogs on this website.

Anonymous said...

My deepest condolences to those who lost their lives. Our thoughts and prayers to the families.

Anonymous said...

Koh Pich Bridge is an incident.

But Koh Pich Bridge is not standard because of corruption.

So the corruption of Koh Pich Bridge construction is not and incident.

It is a long plan to kill Khmer people by outspreading corruption from top to bottom in Cambodia to kill and weaken Khmer people.

Anonymous said...

ខ្មែរសព្វថ្ងៃខ្លាចបាក់ស្បាតអស់ទៅហើយ..!

គ្រាន់តែយួនបង្អើលតែបន្ដិច ក៏ផ្អើលរត់ជាន់គ្នាងាប់
និងរបួស រាប់មិនអស់ទៅហើយ...!

តើប្រជាពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរដែលរងគ្រោះដោយសារយួនបន្លាចនេះ
គិតយ៉ាងណាទៅវិញ?

Source: PPenh
341 dead 335 injured and continue to count...

Anonymous said...

អាឆ្កែកញ្ជះយួនបីក្បាល ហ៊ុន សែន, ហេងសំ រិន, ជាស៊ីម
បើគ្មានសមត្តភាពទេ ល្មមចុះចេញទុកឱ្យ លោកសម រង្ស៊ី
ធ្វើម្ដងហើយ។

Anonymous said...

Even the July 1997 coup made by Hun Xen killed many more people than this.

Khmer in Sydeny CBA, where is your spin ?

Anonymous said...

The K-5 was the second biggest massacre and AH KWACK IS TRYING MANIPULATE THIS! AH KWACK AND HIS VIETNAMESE YOUN GOOK WILL GO DOWN! LONG LIVE CHINA!

Anonymous said...

this tragedy is less worst than the 97 grenade attacked planned by hunsen. don't compare such accident to the worst cambodian history of evil khmer rouge, you are blind 1 eye is just enough.

Anonymous said...

LONG LIVE SRP
ខ្មែរកាន់តែស្លាប់ អញកាន់តែសប្បាយ

Anonymous said...

Because Khmers are so stupid and that is it. Eat more brain food, animals. Next life don't be Khmer.

Anonymous said...

If Hun Sen has real sympathy for Khmer victims of Koh Pich bridge Hun Sen must take full responsible by stepping down otherwise stop this crocodile tear .

But I am sure you will not step down or have real sympathy for Khmer people otherwise you would not do land eviction brutally at Dai Krahom, Bueng Kak, Hand Grenade attacked in 1997, Huge demonstration against fraud election results in 1998.

You are a tool of Indochina Federation.

Anonymous said...

Wait until all these newly built or remodeled homes/flats/condos start to crumble...

They do not care about structural integrity of the building, the codes or anything. Copycatters are abound. They add new multiple levels/upper floors (all concrete units) to the old foundation that were originally one or two stories high built either right after French colonial time or early 1960's. It is a disaster waiting to happen.

The blame and responsibility are with both the incompetent/corrupted government and the population of this greedy generation.

Anonymous said...

When Hun Sen is soooo stupid, his policemen are alsoooooo dumb, at least those dumb police should know the crowd and the bridge, and tell people about the danger. This is not an accident, it is murder.

Anonymous said...

Koh Pich bridge must change its name to corrupted bridge.

Because Koh Pich bridge is not standard becasueit is builded with corruption.

So corruption is a good weapon for Hun Sen to kill Khmer people.

Anonymous said...

Dear Khmer compatriot brothers and sisters,
I fill very sorry for the incident at Koh Pich that Khmer have been suffering again and again; I wish Khmer stop having the tragedies like this from now on. However, what I can see, if Yourn are still behind Hun Sen government, used Hun Sen ‘s hands to help killing Khmer in many different ways like that, Khmer never stop being suffered. This happening, at Koh Pich, is not the final tragedy for Khmer citizen. I do not believe that it is a real accident disaster; it has to have somebody plan to work on it to kill Khmer citizen for weakening us. If my view is correct, you will see Khmer will have a lot more tragedies than this in the near future. Therefore in order to stop something happen like this is to Pull Hun Sen and his clans out of the government (it does not meter how we do it) and change its structure and policies.

Anonymous said...

we viet nam believe Hun Sen- CPP and the last is the KING Sihanomi did a good job and a good leaders. they are working hand in hand. They are a good leaders and good followers to our instructions.

Also thanks to all our vietnamese brothers and sisters who sacrify their family to work in all level of officials in cambodia to keep it part of viet nam.

we also want to thank His Excellency Dr. Phay Siphan, SOK Siphana and SARIN DENORA for their lips services and manipulation of international communities to support us..

Long live Viet Nam

Anonymous said...

Long shit vietnam.

Anonymous said...

Long death Cambo, haha

Kulen Monorom said...

Your Royal Highness Samdech Ta,

Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen,


Thank you for your both kindness and understanding.

What we need is prevention method, not to let this type of accident happen again in future.

It also make me very worry to see so much alcohol allowed to enter or produced in our beloved Kingdom of Cambodia? What about “ YA BA “ from Thailand? Can Samdech Ta and Samdech Hun Sen stop all sort of drugs coming to Cambodia? The accident may not related to drugs and alcohol but just some thing that I could not sleep peacefully from now to the future in the name sake of Khmer citizen.

May almighty God Jesus Christ accept all the victim souls into heaven too.

My condolences to all the victim's family.

Regards,

Kulen Monorom
(The rice farmer's son)