Phnom Penh:
Injured survivors lay on the floors of hospitals in the city on Tuesday and the dead were loaded into coffins after one of the worst stampedes in recent years killed at least 378 people at a holiday celebration the previous night.
The cause of the stampede during Cambodia's annual water festival was unclear, but most of the dead had suffocated or been trampled or crushed to death on a small bridge that became so tightly packed that survivors later said they had been unable to move or even to breathe.
Some of the dead had drowned or were killed when they leaped from the bridge into the water of the Bassac River or onto concrete pilings nearby. Witnesses said some people were wedged for hours among the dead , calling out for water, as the police used batons to push back crowds so that they could clear the bridge.
"They were stacked up like firewood on a pile, people just up and up and up, more than five people up," said Heng Sinith, a photographer for The Associated Press, who said he could hardly bear to press his shutter as he watched the people in agony.
"People were calling out for water," he said. "'Please help me, please help me!' I feel so bad that I could not help them. I could not help them because they were locked together."
The government denied reports that some of the casualties were electrocuted by loose wires or by lights on the bridge. Some survivors said the crowd panicked when people shouted that the slightly swaying bridge was about to collapse.
As the death toll rose, it appeared to surpass the worst recent stampede toll of 362 Muslim pilgrims who were crushed to death while performing a ritual at the entrance to a bridge near Mecca in Saudi Arabia in January 2006.
Prime Minister Hun Sen called it the worst tragedy in Cambodia since the mass killings that under place under the Khmer Rouge, who ruled the country from 1975 to 1979.
Millions of people pour into the capital each year and line the river's banks and islands in almost impenetrable crowds for a boat race that is the climax of a festival that marks the end of the rainy season.
The last boat race ended early Monday evening, the final night of the holiday, and a concert was being held on the island, called Diamond Island, a long spit of land close to the royal palace on the shore.
A military police colonel who had interviewed survivors at Calmette Hospital said it appeared that people from both ends of the bridge had been pushing against each other, causing the crush.
One of his investigators, Sawannara Chendamirie, said it appeared that many people panicked for fear that the bridge would collapse.
"I got information that when the incident happened, some people thought the bridge was falling," he said. "They were so frightened."
One survivor, Chan Chhay Loeurt, 25, a student, said he had no idea what happened.
"Just people squeezed together," he said. "I can't move. I can't breathe. I can't breathe in and out. I fell unconscious. When I woke up I was in a police car next to a dead body."
Video from the site showed scenes of horror, with bodies scattered on the ground and frantic rescuers rushing among them.
At Calmette Hospital, people searched, weeping, through the corridors, where bodies lay on the floor wrapped in woven mats or under sarongs. Hospital workers threw white sheets over groups of bodies. White-coated hospital personnel hurried through rooms jammed with cots.
One survivor, Chhin Chenda, 16, was lying on a mat in the corridor. She said, "At first we were frightened of an electric wire. After that I fell and people ran over me. People were stepping on me. I called out, 'Please help me.' "
Another survivor, Meoun Ly Heang, 12, said he had gone to the island with his 22-year-old sister without permission from their parents because he wanted to watch the festival. When the panic began, he said, "I couldn't move, my leg was stuck. I couldn't stand, I couldn't move. My sister died. She could not breathe. She fell and people stepped on her."
He said the last words he remembered her saying were, "Please, don't step on me."
After the stampede, people staggered from the scene either alone or supported by rescuers. Some sat on the ground, holding their hands to their chests and breathing with difficulty.
Other people carried both the dead and the badly injured by their arms and legs. They knelt on the ground fanning those who were still alive or trying to perform CPR. They loaded the living and the dead onto flatbed trucks or the backs of motorcycles and packed them into ambulances.
Corpses were taken to a temporary tent morgue on the grounds of the hospital. People crowded around it on Tuesday, reaching through windows to lift sheets inside to search for people who had died.
One woman, Nyo Sun, knelt on the ground and lifted the skirt of the tent, reaching in to touch the foot of her 19- year-old daughter Chanda, a garment factory worker who had been the main support of her rural family.
"She said, 'I just want to watch the festival one more night,'" the mother said, lifting the sheet that covered her to show one leg in bright green trousers.
"I don't know how I'm going to get her home," she said. "I have no money to transport her."
Close by her, a man named Nhim Nen, 31 crawled under the tent flap to kneel beside the body of his sister, Nhim Nim, 33, who was covered in a white sheet.
He had spent the night looking for her, first among the survivors, then among the dead.
He pulled a white cloth back from the face of his sister and smoothed her forehead and cheeks before covering her again. He held one hand for a moment, then folded both hands on her chest. Then he pulled a large sheet up to her chin as if tucking her into bed.
The cause of the stampede during Cambodia's annual water festival was unclear, but most of the dead had suffocated or been trampled or crushed to death on a small bridge that became so tightly packed that survivors later said they had been unable to move or even to breathe.
Some of the dead had drowned or were killed when they leaped from the bridge into the water of the Bassac River or onto concrete pilings nearby. Witnesses said some people were wedged for hours among the dead , calling out for water, as the police used batons to push back crowds so that they could clear the bridge.
"They were stacked up like firewood on a pile, people just up and up and up, more than five people up," said Heng Sinith, a photographer for The Associated Press, who said he could hardly bear to press his shutter as he watched the people in agony.
"People were calling out for water," he said. "'Please help me, please help me!' I feel so bad that I could not help them. I could not help them because they were locked together."
The government denied reports that some of the casualties were electrocuted by loose wires or by lights on the bridge. Some survivors said the crowd panicked when people shouted that the slightly swaying bridge was about to collapse.
As the death toll rose, it appeared to surpass the worst recent stampede toll of 362 Muslim pilgrims who were crushed to death while performing a ritual at the entrance to a bridge near Mecca in Saudi Arabia in January 2006.
Prime Minister Hun Sen called it the worst tragedy in Cambodia since the mass killings that under place under the Khmer Rouge, who ruled the country from 1975 to 1979.
Millions of people pour into the capital each year and line the river's banks and islands in almost impenetrable crowds for a boat race that is the climax of a festival that marks the end of the rainy season.
The last boat race ended early Monday evening, the final night of the holiday, and a concert was being held on the island, called Diamond Island, a long spit of land close to the royal palace on the shore.
A military police colonel who had interviewed survivors at Calmette Hospital said it appeared that people from both ends of the bridge had been pushing against each other, causing the crush.
One of his investigators, Sawannara Chendamirie, said it appeared that many people panicked for fear that the bridge would collapse.
"I got information that when the incident happened, some people thought the bridge was falling," he said. "They were so frightened."
One survivor, Chan Chhay Loeurt, 25, a student, said he had no idea what happened.
"Just people squeezed together," he said. "I can't move. I can't breathe. I can't breathe in and out. I fell unconscious. When I woke up I was in a police car next to a dead body."
Video from the site showed scenes of horror, with bodies scattered on the ground and frantic rescuers rushing among them.
At Calmette Hospital, people searched, weeping, through the corridors, where bodies lay on the floor wrapped in woven mats or under sarongs. Hospital workers threw white sheets over groups of bodies. White-coated hospital personnel hurried through rooms jammed with cots.
One survivor, Chhin Chenda, 16, was lying on a mat in the corridor. She said, "At first we were frightened of an electric wire. After that I fell and people ran over me. People were stepping on me. I called out, 'Please help me.' "
Another survivor, Meoun Ly Heang, 12, said he had gone to the island with his 22-year-old sister without permission from their parents because he wanted to watch the festival. When the panic began, he said, "I couldn't move, my leg was stuck. I couldn't stand, I couldn't move. My sister died. She could not breathe. She fell and people stepped on her."
He said the last words he remembered her saying were, "Please, don't step on me."
After the stampede, people staggered from the scene either alone or supported by rescuers. Some sat on the ground, holding their hands to their chests and breathing with difficulty.
Other people carried both the dead and the badly injured by their arms and legs. They knelt on the ground fanning those who were still alive or trying to perform CPR. They loaded the living and the dead onto flatbed trucks or the backs of motorcycles and packed them into ambulances.
Corpses were taken to a temporary tent morgue on the grounds of the hospital. People crowded around it on Tuesday, reaching through windows to lift sheets inside to search for people who had died.
One woman, Nyo Sun, knelt on the ground and lifted the skirt of the tent, reaching in to touch the foot of her 19- year-old daughter Chanda, a garment factory worker who had been the main support of her rural family.
"She said, 'I just want to watch the festival one more night,'" the mother said, lifting the sheet that covered her to show one leg in bright green trousers.
"I don't know how I'm going to get her home," she said. "I have no money to transport her."
Close by her, a man named Nhim Nen, 31 crawled under the tent flap to kneel beside the body of his sister, Nhim Nim, 33, who was covered in a white sheet.
He had spent the night looking for her, first among the survivors, then among the dead.
He pulled a white cloth back from the face of his sister and smoothed her forehead and cheeks before covering her again. He held one hand for a moment, then folded both hands on her chest. Then he pulled a large sheet up to her chin as if tucking her into bed.
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