Cambodia stampede that killed hundreds 'was caused by closing bridge'

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12 April 2012

Cambodia prepared for a day of mourning after a stampede by thousands of festival-goers left at least 378 people dead and hundreds injured.

The prime minister called it the country's biggest tragedy since the murderous "killing fields" reign of the Khmer Rouge in the Seventies.

A panic-stricken crowd, which had been celebrating the end of the rainy season on an island in the Bassac river, tried to flee over a narrow bridge in the capital Phnom Penh late last night.

Singaporean businessmen who staged a sound and light show for the water festival said authorities had closed another bridge earlier in the day, forcing tens of thousands of people to use only one.

"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 on the bridge but managed to escape.

Many were crushed underfoot or fell into the water as they struggled to escape. After the stampede, bodies were stacked on the bridge.

"This is the biggest tragedy we have experienced in the last 31 years, since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime," said prime minister Hun Sen, referring to the regime of Pol Pot which killed nearly two million people between 1975 and 1979.

He ordered an investigation and declared Thursday a national day of mourning.

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