Grim task after fatal stampede
Source: Agencies |
November 24, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Rescuers trawled a muddy river yesterday for more bodies as Cambodia prepared for a day of mourning following a stampede by thousands of festival-goers that left at least 378 dead and hundreds injured.
A panic-stricken crowd - celebrating the end of the rainy season on a river island - tried to flee over a narrow bridge in the capital, Phnom Penh, on Monday night. Many people were crushed underfoot or fell into the water. Disoriented victims struggled to find an escape through the mass of people, pushing in every direction. After the stampede, bodies were stacked upon bodies on the bridge as rescuers swarmed the area.
The search for the dead in and along the river continued yesterday as horrific footage of the night before aired on state television, showing twisted bodies - both alive and dead - piled on one another. Some writhed as they desperately reached out with their hands, the footage showed, screaming for help and grasping for rescuers who struggled to pull limp bodies from the pile.
Paul Hurford, an Australian who runs a charity training firefighters in Cambodia, said he and several colleagues were called in not long after the stampede occurred. He said all they could do was pick out the dead from the living and try to help the survivors.
"I've never come across something with such mass casualties ... in such a small area," he said. "This was a devastating situation, no matter how you look at it."
It remained unclear what sparked the stampede. Police and witnesses pointed to the narrow bridge as providing inadequate access to and from the island. Authorities had closed another bridge earlier in the day, forcing tens of thousands of people to use a single span.
One witness said the trouble started when several people fainted in the tightly packed crowd. Another survivor said he heard a police siren just before the panic erupted.
Calmette Hospital, the capital's main medical facility, was filled to capacity with bodies as well as patients, some of whom had to be treated in hallways. Crying relatives searched for loved ones.
"I was taken by shock. I thought I would die on the spot. Those who were strong enough escaped, but women and children died," said Chea Srey Lak, a 27-year-old woman who was knocked over by the panicked crowd on the bridge.
She managed to escape but described a woman, about 60 years old, lying next to her who was trampled to death by hundreds of fleeing feet.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan said 378 people were killed and 755 injured but this was not the final count. Authorities said there were no foreigners among the dead or injured.
"This is the biggest tragedy we have experienced in the last 31 years, since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime," Prime Minister Hun Sen said.
He ordered an investigation into the cause of the stampede and declared Thursday as a national day of mourning. He said the government would pay the families of each dead victim 5 million riel (US$1,250) for funeral expenses and provide 1 million riel for each injured person.
City police chief Touch Naroth said investigators were still trying to determine the cause but suggested that the bridge's small size may have contributed. "This is a lesson for us," he said on state TV.
The prime minister's special adviser, Om Yentieng, denied reports that the panic was sparked by people being electrocuted by lighting cables or by a mass food poisoning.
Authorities had estimated that upward of 2 million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day water festival, the Bon Om Touk, which marks the end of the rainy season and whose main attraction is traditional boat races along the river.
The panic started on Koh Pich - Diamond Island - a long spit of land wedged in a fork in the river where a concert was being held.
A panic-stricken crowd - celebrating the end of the rainy season on a river island - tried to flee over a narrow bridge in the capital, Phnom Penh, on Monday night. Many people were crushed underfoot or fell into the water. Disoriented victims struggled to find an escape through the mass of people, pushing in every direction. After the stampede, bodies were stacked upon bodies on the bridge as rescuers swarmed the area.
The search for the dead in and along the river continued yesterday as horrific footage of the night before aired on state television, showing twisted bodies - both alive and dead - piled on one another. Some writhed as they desperately reached out with their hands, the footage showed, screaming for help and grasping for rescuers who struggled to pull limp bodies from the pile.
Paul Hurford, an Australian who runs a charity training firefighters in Cambodia, said he and several colleagues were called in not long after the stampede occurred. He said all they could do was pick out the dead from the living and try to help the survivors.
"I've never come across something with such mass casualties ... in such a small area," he said. "This was a devastating situation, no matter how you look at it."
It remained unclear what sparked the stampede. Police and witnesses pointed to the narrow bridge as providing inadequate access to and from the island. Authorities had closed another bridge earlier in the day, forcing tens of thousands of people to use a single span.
One witness said the trouble started when several people fainted in the tightly packed crowd. Another survivor said he heard a police siren just before the panic erupted.
Calmette Hospital, the capital's main medical facility, was filled to capacity with bodies as well as patients, some of whom had to be treated in hallways. Crying relatives searched for loved ones.
"I was taken by shock. I thought I would die on the spot. Those who were strong enough escaped, but women and children died," said Chea Srey Lak, a 27-year-old woman who was knocked over by the panicked crowd on the bridge.
She managed to escape but described a woman, about 60 years old, lying next to her who was trampled to death by hundreds of fleeing feet.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan said 378 people were killed and 755 injured but this was not the final count. Authorities said there were no foreigners among the dead or injured.
"This is the biggest tragedy we have experienced in the last 31 years, since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime," Prime Minister Hun Sen said.
He ordered an investigation into the cause of the stampede and declared Thursday as a national day of mourning. He said the government would pay the families of each dead victim 5 million riel (US$1,250) for funeral expenses and provide 1 million riel for each injured person.
City police chief Touch Naroth said investigators were still trying to determine the cause but suggested that the bridge's small size may have contributed. "This is a lesson for us," he said on state TV.
The prime minister's special adviser, Om Yentieng, denied reports that the panic was sparked by people being electrocuted by lighting cables or by a mass food poisoning.
Authorities had estimated that upward of 2 million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day water festival, the Bon Om Touk, which marks the end of the rainy season and whose main attraction is traditional boat races along the river.
The panic started on Koh Pich - Diamond Island - a long spit of land wedged in a fork in the river where a concert was being held.
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