Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Scenes of grief amid Cambodia crush carnage

Relatives are searching picture boards outside hospitals for missing loved ones
23 November 2010
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh

Calmette Hospital is rarely a happy place at the best of times. It may be Phnom Penh's flagship healthcare centre but facilities are basic.

Now the Diamond Island bridge disaster may have turned it into the saddest corner of Cambodia.

Most of those injured in the crush on Diamond Island bridge were brought there, more than 700 of them - a serious challenge for the limited facilities of Calmette and several other Phnom Penh hospitals.

Patients and staff were forced to improvise. The injured lay on the floor if no bed was available, or stayed in the corridors if there was no room in the wards.


But it was not only the wounded who were brought to Calmette. Many of the hundreds who died came as well.
"I have looked all over and we haven't heard from him. I am losing hope that he is alive" - Doun searching for brother
They were laid out in rows inside a number of the city's hospitals. There were also picture boards outside, where people could perform the potentially heart-breaking task of looking for missing friends and relatives.

The boards made for gruesome viewing. The bodies had been laid on bamboo mats, and head-and-shoulders photos taken. Most of the victims had their eyes closed, but a few of them stared blankly into the lens - suggesting life when it had already been extinguished.

Doun was looking for her younger brother, who had not returned home. She had already been to several other hospitals. Now she was scanning the picture board of the dead outside Calmette Hospital.

She looked in vain. A measure of relief for Doun - perhaps her brother was still alive - but frustration and despair as well.

"I have looked all over and we haven't heard from him," she said. "I am losing hope that he is alive."

Others have already discovered their worst fears are true.

On the night of the disaster, a convoy of emergency vehicles shuttled the dead and injured to Calmette. Now the traffic is going the other way, as the bodies are being claimed and taken away in coffins by funeral vehicles.

At sunset on the evening following the disaster, police barriers held scores of people back from the scene at Diamond Island. The crowd seemed to be a mixture of the curious, the distressed and those who simply wished to pay their respects to the dead.

Srey Luch arrived at the barrier bearing flowers, incense and prayer candles. She was from Kandal province, close to Phnom Penh, and she knew a number of people who were hurt or missing.

"I want to bless the people who died and those who were injured," she said.

The bridge which was the focus of the carnage looks like an illustration from a fairytale - all turrets and twinkling fairy-lights. But it is barely wide enough to accommodate two cars side by side - and woefully inadequate for the numbers celebrating the Water Festival on Diamond Island.

On the night of the disaster the bridge was closed to vehicles. But the human traffic proved overwhelming.

The cause of the panic was not immediately apparent. Electric shocks from the lights, fights among young people and fears that the structure was about to collapse have all been put forward.
Prime Minster Hun Sen has promised a thorough investigation and the authorities may be helped by footage from a TV network which was broadcasting a live music performance from a stage just yards from the bridge.

Thanks to its three decades of civil war and the horrors of the Khmer Rouge era, Cambodia has a reputation as a place where awful things happen. But many of its mostly young population have grown up with peace and relative prosperity, and have never experienced a disaster before.

A waiter in a local cafe feared the anguish may be about to spread. Most of the visitors to the Water Festival are from the rural provinces and some families would only realise their daughters or sons might have been caught in the crush when they failed to return home.

That raises the possibility of bodies going unclaimed for days and the agony of loss continuing as families arrive in the capital in search of the missing.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

That KOS PICHAKHEAT the hight rinking and company they took the land from Khmer peopel people to build this place.




SPEAN TEP

Anonymous said...

the gov't of cambodia and all khmer people should call for a real reform in cambodia's healthcare system to handle emergency or national crisis like this. they should conduct drills more often and be more prepared by expanding the size and services of the hospitals, etc. as a nation, gov't and people cannot ignore this kind of national tragedy and must always on the ready to give help, especiall during major national holiday like bonn om tuk, new year, etc when better roads bridges made traveling from the provinces int o the city more accessable, etc. yes, phnom penh and other cambodian cities will continue to grow and see more people coming in and out, so, gov't must be prepared to handle crisis like this!

i think in cambodia, if the healthcare system, the infrastructure, the education, the judicial branch of gov't, the basic sanitation like clean water, toilet, both public and living standard and so on is improved or reformed in the country, i think more and people overseas khmer and more international people will want to call cambodia home. until that is improved or reformed, people like will always be reluctant to relocate or resettle in cambodia for fear of the lack of good, convenience services in life like we all took for granted living overseas in the western society, etc... cambodia needs to wake up and improve or reform this important ways of life because the country's economy and people are growing and changing so rapidly, so should the basic services like healthcare, education, infrastructure, sanitation, etc be improved and reformed as well to meet the demand and change of time, etc... that's all! please wake up and see the world, ok! and everyone of us can all help to make a real difference in cambodia, really. stop playing blaming game, or be selfish, or be greedy, or be behind time, or be in the dark; demand for improvement in all fields so everyone of cambodian people and citizens can reap the benefits like the rest of the developing countries out there, really! enough, sad, suffering for khmer people already, they learned and suffered enough already, it's time to become a better country for cambodia. god bless my country cambodia and all khmer people and citizens.

Anonymous said...

It been 12 yrs since I left and went back.....Nothing els is changing but apartment and condo! people are still poors and city smell like pissed. Government said it not there jobs.

Anonymous said...

ហ៊ុនសែនមានក្រុមហ៊ុនធ្វើក្តាមឈូស ទុកសំរាប់អ្នកស្លូតត្រង៉ទាំងអស់នេះហើយ
សូមកុំព្រួយបារម្ភអ្វី ហ៊ុនសែនខ្លាចតែគ្មាន
មនុស្សស្លាប់ទៅវឹញទេ។បោះឆ្នោតឲ្យគាត់
ទៀតទៅ មឹនខ្វះទេក្តារមឈូស សរុង ប៊ីចេង
ស្វាគមន៏ជានឹច្ច។

Anonymous said...

the cities and the countries are changing, so should the level of service, both public and private! hello, people, focus on reforming and improving the country's healthcare system, the people's way of life. if the job is too hard, then resign and let others who can do better do it. or at least listen to the good advice of the experts and other capable people out there. the country should change with time and people. that's all!

cambodia is still lack of many things we take for granted in the western world, you know! it is time for cambodia to improve and reform all fields of public services, gov't, standard of living, education, infrastructure, etc, etc... when improving things in the country, please keep pbulic services and people in mind at all time, otherwise, you're doing the people a disservice when you don't think of their safety first, and so forth, really! i don't care who you are, it's time to wake up and see the world, ok!

Anonymous said...

Whe you have a stupid, uneducated leader like Hun Sen, his policemen are also fucking dumb, they at least should know a big crowds and the bridge, but these animals police are sooooo good of attacking their own innocent people that is all.

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

November 23, 2010
Open MESSAGE:

Relating to this unpredictable tragedy at the last day of Water Festival this year, I recall that one day, King Father recommended turning Tuol Sleng into the prayer place for the death of those people for national reconciliation and especially for the spirit of those deaths.
King Father‘s suggestion was turned down. The RGC should seriously reconsider King Father’s recommendation. It is not too late to turn TUOL SLENG into a peaceful memory rather than to a memory of vengeance or anger. Turn down all relating banners. Burn up all relating books. Otherwise it will be happened by another unexpected and the worst tragedy.
The spirits of all Patriotic Kings including King Cheywarreman VII, and millions of patriotic Khmers such as Lok Ta Kheang Moeung, Preah Neang Chek Preah Neang Cham, Krala Hom Kong, Oknha SON KUY, Preah Ang Dang Kal, ect.. have been everywhere inside the territory of Khmer Empire (from KKK to…….)
They see all of us; but we don’t see them. You believe it or not are up to the individual Khmer including the leaders of every departments, congress, and Senate of the Royal Government of Cambodia.

Be faithful to all Khmers of all walk of lives!

Kulen Monorom said...

Your Majesty Samdech Ta former King Norodom Sihanouk,

Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen,

Thank you for your both kindness and understanding.
What we need is prevention methods, not to let this type of accident happen again in the future.

It also makes me very worried to see so much alcohol allowed to enter or be produced in our beloved Kingdom of Cambodia? What about “ YA BA “ and other types of DRUGS from Thailand and Vietnam?

Can His Majesty Samdech Ta and Samdech Hun Sen stop all sorts of drugs coming to Cambodia? The accident may not be related to drugs and alcohol but just some thing that I could not sleep peacefully from now on to the future, in the names sake of true Khmer citizen.

Can Samdech Hun Sen kindly ask all 5 million Vietnamese illegal immigrants to peacefully return to Vietnam, so Koh Pich will not be too crowded more and more every day, every month and every year to come.
All Vietnamese illegal immigrants can easily come in and settle inside Cambodia even though they already have their own country Vietnam.

When Cambodia is too crowded, definitely we Khmer people can not go to settle inside Vietnam, can we?
Please Vietnamese, you said you came to rescue us from Pol Pot, and you don’t want to return home, it is not right according to 23rd October 1991 Paris Peace Agreement, can all of you go back to your country now.

Vietnamese illegal immigrants, you see because 5 million of you are inside Cambodia, it makes us too crowded and we wasted our lives at Koh Pich without good reasons.

Your Vietnamese Communism expansionist mind in Cambodia, is to give an excuse to China mainland to occupy your Spratly Islands, Parcel Islands, the whole of your Eastern sea border and perhaps the Northern border sooner or later.

5 million Vietnamese illegal immigrants in Cambodia, please go back home to defend your country from Chinese mighty economic invasion.

May I pray to God and the Lord Jesus Christ that those who have lost loved one will be comforted.

My condolences to all the victim's family.

Regards,

Kulen Monorom
(The rice farmer's son)