Tragedy strikes at Cambodia Water Festival

Nearly 400 people have died in a tragic incident at the Cambodia Water Festival in Phnom Penh when a stampede ensued on a bridge over the Bassac River. Over 700 people were also seriously injured in the incident.

Revellers congregated on the bridge and started to panic. People located in the middle of the bridge were caught in the crush and suffocated to death. Others tried to escape the melee by climbing the bridge, only to be electrocuted when electric cabling broke free. Some jumped or fell unconscious off the bridge and drowned.

Prime Minister Hun Sen reported that the incident at the Cambodia Water Festival was the biggest tragedy the country has experienced since the Khmer Rouge killings in the 1970s. He has declared Thursday as a national day of mourning to honour the lives that were lost in the Cambodia Water Festival.

Most of the deaths that occurred at the Cambodia Water Festival were caused by suffocation or internal injuries. The death toll could continue to rise if more bodies are discovered in the Bassac River or if some of the injured don't survive. Many of those that lost their lives appeared to be teenage revellers.

This morning, the day after the Cambodia Water Festival, the bridge was littered with shoes and items of discarded clothing. The hospital in Phnom Penh was full to the brink and many of those that were injured in the Cambodia Water Festival had to treated in the hallway.

The incident at the Cambodia Water Festival is the world's worst stampede since 2005 when rumours of the presence of a suicide bomb panicked people at a religious event. More than 1,000 Shia pilgrims were crushed to death.

Digg    Reddit    Facebook    Tweet This