Cambodia searched for answers yesterday, one day after a stampede killed at least 375 people on a suspension bridge where survivors said they were wedged into the crowd of living and dead for hours.
The government launched an investigation into why thousands panicked late on Monday on the pedestrian bridge connecting Phnom Penh to man-made Diamond Island, where people were celebrating the last day of the annual Bon Om Touk water festival marking the end of the rainy season.
Survivors recounted scenes of mass suffocation and desperate screams after thousands went into a frenzy to flee the bridge, apparently after shouts went up that some people had been electrocuted. Police said some also shouted that the bridge was about to collapse.
Photo: AFP
The victims suffocated or were trampled and some survivors said they were wedged into the crowd for hours. Police sprayed water so survivors could drink. About 755 people were injured.
“People were shouting that someone had been electrocuted, to run back,” Touch Loch, 18, told Reuters. “I fell and people stepped on me until I passed out. When I woke I was here in hospital.”
Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, denied anyone was electrocuted on the bridge, which was adorned with flashing lights. He said it was designed to sway, but the movement took people by surprise and some shouted it was broken.
“The cause was panic, not electrocution,” he told reporters who gathered in front of the bridge, which was littered with shoes and clothing left by victims.
Touch Theara, 38, said she had been stuck in the crowd for three hours: “I thought I was dead ... Police sprayed water at us. We were just opening our mouths to drink.”
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen apologized for the disaster and ordered an investigation as TV footage showed relatives weeping over bodies of the dead.
“This is the biggest tragedy in more than 31 years after the Pol Pot regime,” he said, declaring tomorrow a day of mourning.
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