23 November,2010 07:57 AM IST | | Agencies
Thousands of Cambodians celebrating a water festival on an island in a river in the capital stampeded last night, leaving more than 330 people dead and hundreds injured.
Some in the panicky crowd who tried to flee over a bridge were crushed underfoot or fell over its sides into the water.
Calmette Hospital, the capital's main medical facility, was filled to capacity with bodies as well as patients, some of whom had to be treated in hallways.
Many of the injured appeared to be badly hurt, raising the prospect that the death toll could rise as local hospitals became overwhelmed.
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.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, in the third of three post-midnight live television broadcasts, said that 339 people had been killed and 329 injured.
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He described the chaos as the "biggest tragedy" to strike his country since the communist Khmer Rouge ruled in a reign of terror in the 1970s, and ordered an investigation.
Hun Sen declared Thursday would be a national day of mourning, and ordered all government ministries to fly the flag at half-staff.
Authorities had estimated that 2 million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the water festival.
The Festival
The annual Cambodian Water Festival takes place in October or November, at the time of the full moon, and is the largest festival in the country. Millions of people flock to the banks of the Tonle Sap river and Mekong River in Phnom Penh to watch boats racing. The festival marks the reversal of flow between the Tonle Sap and Mekong River.
