Video: CAMBODIA - Hundreds killed in stampede during popular water

New Tang Dynasty Television
23rd November, 2010

Hundreds of relatives gathered at Cambodian hospitals to search for bodies of stampede victims on Tuesday. At least 345 people were killed and more than 300 injured in a stampede on a bridge on the last day of a three-day water festival.

The bodies were laid on the ground and were covered with white sheets at a local hospital. It’s one of three facilities that are handling the bodies of the victims and are treating the wounded.

Many relatives wearing black and weeping came to the hospital after hearing that their loved-ones were among those killed.

Most of the 49 bodies at this hospital have been identified.

[Heng Neng, Daughter Killed in the Stampede]:
"I come here to give the police my family book in order to take my daughter's body out."

An official from the hospital says most of the victims were trampled and suffocated while trying to leave the bridge.

Witnesses said the stampede began after several people were electrocuted late on Monday on a small bridge lined with lights. The bridge connects Phnom Penh to a nearby island called Koh Pich, or Diamond Island, where thousands had gathered to celebrate the water festival and watch a concert.

Fifty-two-year-old San Supa started searching for her daughter and son-in-law after hearing about the stampede. She called every hospital until she found their bodies at the hospital.

[San Supa, Relatives Killed in the Stampede]:
"They both told me that they wanted to watch the light boat parade at night around 7 p.m. and then they went missing and I came straight away to the hospital and I found out that they died."

At Koh Pich Bridge, the site of the stampede, a few of the relatives held a ritual ceremony to pray for their loved ones.

Prime Minister Hun Sen apologized for the disaster and ordered an investigation.

An estimated five million of Cambodia's 14 million people visit the capital during the festival each year.