Hundreds die in Cambodia festival stampede

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Hundreds die in Cambodia festival stampede

Photos: Hundreds die in Cambodia festival stampede, Nov. 2010.

An injured Cambodian is carried by visitors after a stampede onto a bridge at an accident site during the last day of celebrations of the water festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010. Thousands of people celebrating a water festival on a small island in a Cambodian river stampeded Monday evening, killing over 330, according to reports.

Some in the panicky crowd who tried to flee over a bridge were crushed underfoot or fell over its sides into the water. Prime Minister Hun Sen, in the third of three post-midnight live television broadcasts, said that 339 people had been killed and 329 injured.

Many of the injured appeared to be badly hurt, raising the prospect that the death toll could rise as local hospitals became overwhelmed.

Authorities had estimated that upward of 2 million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day water festival, which marks the end of the rainy season and whose main attraction is traditional boat races along the river.

The panic started later on Koh Pich -- Diamond Island -- a long spit of land wedged in a fork in the river where a concert was being held. The crowd later stampeded onto this bridge.

A soft drink vendor said the trouble began when about 10 people fell unconscious in the press of the crowd. She said that set off a panic, which then turned into a stampede, with many people caught underfoot.

Seeking to escape the island, part of the crowd pushed onto a bridge, which also jammed up, with people falling under others and into the water. The soft drink vendor who witnessed the initial stampede said hundreds of hurt people lay on the ground afterward. Many appeared to be unconscious.

Hours after the chaos, the dead and injured were still being taken away from the scene, while searchers looked for bodies of anyone who might have drowned. An Associated Press reporter saw one body floating in the river, and hundreds of shoes left behind on and around the bridge.

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An injured Cambodian is carried by visitors after a stampede onto a bridge at an accident site during the last day of celebrations of the water festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010. Thousands of people celebrating a water festival on a small island in a Cambodian river stampeded Monday evening, killing over 330, according to reports.

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