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Cambodia holds day of mourning for stampede dead
AFP - 2 hours 59 minutes ago
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PHNOM PENH (AFP) - – Crowds of mourners offered flowers and incense Thursday at the site of a stampede that killed almost 350 people after panic spread over rumours an overcrowded bridge was about to collapse.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, dressed in black, wiped away a tear and burnt incense at the foot of the narrow bridge, as he led the country in a national day of mourning at a short service.
Flowers and food offerings for the souls of the deceased replaced the shoes, clothing and plastic bottles that were discarded by victims and had remained as grim reminders of Monday's disaster.
Officials said throngs of revellers celebrating the nation's annual water festival apparently panicked as rumours rippled through the crowds that the crossing to an island in Phnom Penh was about to give way.
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 cried as a military band played a sombre tune.
Flags flew at half-mast at government buildings across the capital, and many women wore white shirts, a colour of mourning in Cambodia.
Streams of people, including foreigners, lined up to lay out fruit, rice and water for the spirits of the dead.
The offerings are part of Khmer tradition, said 28-year-old mourner Bou Rany, to appease the souls of the deceased.
"We do not know where their spirits will go," she said.
Also laying flowers was Soth Chay Heang, who said she was angry about the incident.
"I don't want the bridge to reopen now. That has to wait until the people have released all their sorrow," the 23-year-old graduate said.
Om Yentieng, the premier's top adviser, said the bridge would open to foot traffic again soon.
"The use of the bridge will continue," he told reporters at the memorial service.
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 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 eight-metre (26 feet) wide, 100-metre (328 feet) long crossing 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 told AFP.
More than 4,000 police officers were deployed during the festival and thousands of other security personnel were on guard as well, he added.
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 18-year-old student Nol Socheata.
Hun Sen has described the disaster as Cambodia's worst tragedy since the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 reign of terror, which killed up to a quarter of the population.
Exuberant festival-goers had been crossing the bridge to reach an island hosting concerts, food stalls and ice sculptures when the stampede began.
It marked a tragic end to the boat races, concerts and fireworks that are part of the traditional festival, which celebrates the reversal of the flow between the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers.
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