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| A mother mourning her daughter |
AFP
PHNOM PENH — Hundreds of tearful relatives burned incense and placed offerings of flowers, fruit and food Tuesday at the foot of a new memorial honouring 353 people who died in a bridge stampede one year ago.
"I feel fearful seeing this bridge," an emotional Tith Sam Ath, 40, whose 12-year-old son died in the disaster during a popular festival in the capital Phnom Penh, told AFP.
"I still miss my son every day. He was an outstanding student," she said, as Buddhist monks chanted and blessed the memorial, which carries the names of those who perished nearby.
Cambodia's annual water festival ended in tragedy last year when crowds panicked on the narrow crossing leading to the capital's Diamond Island, one of the main event sites.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said shortly afterwards that no officials would be punished over the stampede, which he called "a joint mistake".
A government inquiry found the crush began when rumours rippled through the packed crowd that the eight-metre-wide (26 feet), 100-metre-long bridge was unstable.
The annual festival, which marks the reversal of the flow between the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers, draws millions of visitors to the capital to enjoy dragon boat races, fireworks and concerts.
This year's event was cancelled after the government said the money would be better spent helping the victims of a recent flood disaster, the country's worst in over a decade.
2 comments:
I feel sorry for those who died in Koh Pich last year.
I watched the video the absence of Air and Marine rescue teams lead to this worse tragedy.
For me I blamed whoever The Commander in Chief of Emergency Operation from the bottom up to Priminister Hun Sen.
I request for Action for those survivors in this tragedy file the complain to your Domnang Reastr.
Your Domnang Reastr may explore the law to charge those who are reponsible.
In urgent like this Hun Sen can order Air Lifting Operation to lift people from the brige and Marines can help from under the bridge.
How come there were no actions from the air and the marines.I doubted that Hun Sen lets innocent people died.
to 7:09 PM,
Cambodia has no ability to help those survivors with the Air lifting even Hun Sen fly also withe 2nd hand aircraft. But Cambodia has ability to help them with the marines. The problem is that the Hun Sens Govt. has never thing about this or maybe they can't thing despite they have a lot of toillets PhD. The only things that they thing about are:
1) power power,
2) money money, dollars...
3) young girls.
4) what the the future of the country will be, never thing about.
All that is Cambodia today
For instance:
For 2 mouths I visited Cambodia. We got a small drink with French Colonel (who is in charge for military training over there) and we had invited a couples of Cambodian generals. During those gemerals looked down us because have so lower grad like them. On the way home the French Colonel told me, that is Cambodia at the present, 4 stars gemerals but nothing in head. For me, I came from French army officer anst d is serving my mother land fast
the whole life but just now only Colonel that is our dream.But here must of grad was bough. Here when you have money and relatives, the grad can jump from Colonel to 3 or 4 stars generals only a short period.
That is the true story.
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