Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen led an emotional memorial ceremony yesterday at the site of a bridge stampede in the capital that killed almost 350 people in the worst national tragedy for decades.
Hun Sen, dressed in black, wiped away a tear and burnt incense at a small altar erected at the foot of the narrow bridge, now cleared of the shoes, clothing and plastic bottles that were a grim reminder of Monday’s disaster.
Officials said throngs of revelers celebrating the nation’s annual water festival apparently panicked as rumors rippled through the crowds that the bridge to an island in Phnom Penh was about to give way.
PHOTO: EPA
The death toll was revised down to 347 from 456 because some victims had been mistakenly included twice, the Social Affairs Ministry said. Of those who perished, 221 were women. Hospitals reported 395 people were injured.
At the memorial ceremony, Hun Sen’s wife, Bun Rany, stood at her husband’s side and openly cried as a military band played a somber tune. Other government officials, including Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and National Assembly President Heng Samrin, also paid their respects.
The women wore white shirts, a color of mourning in Cambodia.
Flags were flying at half-mast at government buildings across the capital, while many schools were closed and dozens of uniformed school children carrying flowers attended the early morning service.
Afterwards, streams of people, including foreigners, lined up to lay out fruit, rice and water — sustenance for the spirits of the dead — at the altar.
King Sihamoni did not attend the event, but his father, Norodom Sihanouk, the former monarch who is still highly revered by Cambodians, sent out a public letter of condolence from Beijing, where he is receiving medical treatment.
The message, which appeared in full on the front page of a local newspaper, said the event had filled him and his wife “with very profound sadness.”
Initial findings from a probe into the stampede released on Wednesday suggested a combination of factors was to blame.
“The deaths happened because the bridge was overcrowded and there was panic that the bridge was collapsing because it is hung by cables and it was swaying,” said Prum Sokha, who heads a panel investigating the tragedy.
The government has admitted it overlooked issues of crowd control, but says a private firm was in charge of security on the island and bridge where the disaster unfolded.
Phnom Penh’s police chief Touch Naruth estimated that at least 7,000 people were on the 8m wide, 100m long bridge when the stampede happened.
“It’s unfortunate, but even if we had had tens of thousands of policemen, we would still not have been able to help them because they were stuck on the bridge,” he said.
More than 4,000 police officers were deployed during the festival and thousands of other security personnel were on guard, he said.
Funerals and cremations have been taking place across the country as distressed relatives and survivors searched for answers.
“I was stamped on for an hour but I didn’t see any police coming to save me before I jumped into the water,” said Nol Socheata, an 18-year-old student.
Hun Sen has described the disaster as Cambodia’s worst tragedy since the Khmer Rouge’s 1975 to 1979 reign of terror. He said a memorial stupa would be built “to commemorate the souls of the people who lost their lives ... and to remember the serious tragedy for the nation and the Cambodian people.”
Festivalgoers had been crossing the bridge to reach an island hosting concerts and food stalls when the stampede began.
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