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Thursday, 25 November 2010

Cambodia: 456 Dead In Festival Stampede


UK, Wednesday November 24, 2010

Kate Sullivan and Philip Thomas, Sky News Online

At least 456 people have died in a stampede at Phnom Penh's annual Water Festival celebrations, officials in Cambodia have said.

Thousands of Cambodians were on the streets to mark the end of the festival when the crowd rushed onto a bridge connecting the capital city to an island.

Survivors said the panic started on Koh Pich, or Diamond Island, where a concert was being held, when shouts went up that several people had been electrocuted.

Many people were crushed underfoot or fell over the side of the bridge into the water.

Up to two million people had been expected to attend the festival's close on Monday night, where the main attraction is a traditional boat race along the Tonle Sap river.

Police officials examine hundreds of shoes and other belongings in Phnom Penh after hundreds of people were crushed to death

Shoes and other belongings left behind after the stampede

One of the survivors, 18-year-old Touch Loch, said: "I fell and people stepped on me until I passed out.

"When I woke I was here in hospital. People were crying for their fathers and mothers."

Touch Theara, 38, who said she had been stuck in the crowd for three hours, added: "I thought I was dead.

"Police sprayed water at us. We were just opening our mouths to drink."

The bridge where the stampede happened

The bridge were the stampede happened

Prime Minister Hun Sen apologised for the disaster and ordered an investigation into how it happened.

He described it as Cambodia's darkest hour since the Khmer Rouge's regime in the 1970s left up to a quarter of the population dead.

The country will hold a national day of mourning on Thursday, he said.

There were no reports that foreigners were among the victims.

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