Ben Doherty speaks to survivors of the crush that Cambodia's PM called 'the greatest tragedy in more than 31 years'
Ben Doherty in Phnom Penh
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Cambodia stampede: 'I was in the middle. Everyone was falling'
Ben Doherty in Phnom Penh
guardian.co.uk,
Cambodia Mourns in Aftermath of Bridge Stampede
Reporters, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 23 November 2010
via CAAI
“My sister's body was blackened on the hands, chest, stomach and feet, like people had stomped on her.”
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 23 November 2010
via CAAI
Photo: by Heng Reaksmey
Earlier today, in Cambodia, a group of monks and officials pray for victims near the site where people stampeded during Monday's water festival in Phnom Penh.
“My sister's body was blackened on the hands, chest, stomach and feet, like people had stomped on her.”
The day after the largest tragedy in recent Cambodian history, hospitals were overwhelmed with family members as they searched for lost loved ones.
Hospitals were lined with the bodies of the dead, with disaster authorities claiming they had so far only identified 60 percent of the victims.
Bodies were put in coffins and shipped to their home provinces for burial, as the government declared Thursday a national day of mourning and established an investigative committee.
Officials say at least 378 people were killed during a crowd stampede on a bridge near Diamond Island, on the riverfront, following annual Water Festival festivities.
Revelry turned to tragedy as a crowd in the thousands, trapped on the bridge, panicked, crushing some underfoot as others jumped into the river to escape. More than 700 people were wounded in the event, which had emergency crews scrabbling through the early morning hours Tuesday.
Hospitals were filled with the bodies of the dead, lined up along the floor, where loved ones were forced to search for the lost.
Horn Sam An, 41, in L'vea Em district, Kandal province, found her sister dead after she spent from midnight to 8 am searching three hospitals before finding her at a fourth, Calmette.
Soa Sok, 37, from Kampong Cham province, said he walked with three friends from hospital to hospital to find his missing brother. He had still not found him as of Tuesday afternoon.
In a national address, Prime Minister Hun Sen called the tragedy the worst since the Khmer Rouge, and he appointed one investigative committee to learn the reason for the disaster and a second committee to help the families of victims.
Nhim Vanda, deputy chief of the National Disaster Committee, said health officials were performing examinations of the bodies and identifying them for families.
“And then we put the bodies in white cloth and plastic in a coffin and are transporting the bodies to their respective homes for traditional ceremonies,” he said. “The government has paid everything for all the bodies of families for transport and ceremony.”
Bodies were sent back home via ambulances, military trucks and other vehicles.
Prum Sokha, secretary of state for the Interior Ministry and the head of the investigative committee, called for the survivors and other witnesses to help by providing information to the authorities.
Family members who came to Calmette Tuesday morning described bruised and broken bodies.
“My sister's body was blackened on the hands, chest, stomach and feet, like people had stomped on her,” said Sok Navy, 41, from Kandal province.
But there were those too who escaped the stampede with their lives. Pheoung Srey Leak, a 22-year-old survivor, said she was trapped on the crowded bridge for four hours.
“It was very stuff, and no air,” she said. “I couldn't walk out of the crowd. I had a feeling I was probably not alive, and I was hopeless.... I was determined not to faint. If I had fainted and fallen down, I would have been stomped to death by other people.”
But she did faint, she said, and she couldn't breathe. “When I woke up, I was in the emergency room of Calmette hospital,” she said.
For those who died, some 4,000 Buddhist monks held a ceremony of prayer Tuesday afternoon.
The government has declared Thursday a national day of mourning, and groups from around the country have pledged their support to the families of victims.
Former king Norodom Sihanouk and his son, the king, Norodom Sihamoni, expressed condolences for lost loved ones and promised $200 to the families of the deceased and $100 to the families of the injured.
Students from 10 separate universities have established the 2211 foundation, named for the date of the incident, to gather funds for the families.
“And to march on Nov. 25 to pay respect to the souls of the deceased,” said Toch Norin, a student representative.
Political parties and development agencies issued their own condolences, along with others.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement on behalf of President Barrack Obama, saying: “I have seen their strength and resilience first hand, including during my recent visit, and I am confident that they will pull together and persevere through this difficult time.”
But questions over how the tragedy happened, and the response, remain.
The Asian Human Rights Commission issued a statement of condolence that also questioned security measures in the capital during the massive festival, saying: “It is clear that Phnom Penh was unprepared for any large-scale disaster.”
Cause of Deadly Crowd Panic Unclear, Authorities Say
Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Monday, 22 November 2010
via CAAI
Phnom Penh Monday, 22 November 2010
via CAAI
Photo: Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Victims of a deadly stampede are carried onto a rescue truck in Phnom Penh, in what Cambodian Prime Minister calls the country's "worst tragedy" since the Khmer Rouge period.
"The killing of Cambodian people this time is a second tragedy after Khmer Rouge regime."
The spark that caused the deadly panic in crowds Monday night at the conclusion of Cambodia’s largest annual festival remained unclear Tuesday morning, authorities told VOA Khmer.
A stampede at the conclusion of the three-day Water Festival killed at least 345 people and injured more than 400 others. The crowds grew unruly and dangerous shortly before 10 pm, and most of the victims were aged between 17 and 25, authorities told VOA Khmer.
Two toddlers, aged three and four, were saved from drowning, authorities confirmed early Tuesday. But they also described the deadly incident as one of the low points in modern Cambodian history.
There are conflicting reports about what sparked the chaos, according to interviews with witnesses, police, local authorities, and victim’s families.
Some witnesses said the incident was likely caused from an electrical shock when people were crossing the bridge of Koh Pich resort area. Others at the scene told VOA Khmer that people were spooked by rumors that the bridge would collapse. There were also reports of a fist fight on the bridge between two groups of teenagers and that when one group ran, turmoil erupted.
Prime Minister Hun Sen appeared several times throughout the night on Bayon TV. He sat at a desk, apparently at his home in Takhmau, on the outskirts of the capital. The broadcasts were carried simultaneously on two other prominent stations, TVK and CTN. Hun Sen said the incident was the worst affliction to strike Cambodia since the 1970s regime of the Khmer Rouge.
“The killing of Cambodian people this time is a second tragedy after Khmer Rouge regime,” a solemn Hun Sen said on the television broadcast.
Hun Sen publicly expressed his condolences and set up committees to investigate the incident.
Phnom Penh municipal authorities have set up special telephone numbers for people who wish to search for lost family members.
There are many people coming to Koh Pich to look for their relatives and many could not find them. They were told to go to Calmette hospital and other hospitals and clinics. Many were distraught.
Authorities have now cordoned off the area and tightened security for investigation. However, Prime Minister Hun Sen said that initial finding was that it was not “a terrorist attack”.
Cambodia stampede kills 375 and leaves government seeking answers
'We need to draw lessons from it,' says the government spokesman. A special investigative committee has been tasked with finding the cause of the deadly Cambodia stampede.
Cambodian police officers stand behind a barricade at the site where people stampeded during a water festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 23. Heng Sinith/AP
By Julie Masis, Correspondent, Stephen Kurczy, Staff Writer
November 23, 2010
Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and Boston
A day after a Cambodia stampede killed at least 375 people and injured more than 750, a pall fell over the capital as a national day of mourning shuttered schools and businesses and a difficult task began for the government.
A special investigative committee is seeking to determine what caused the tragedy and what can be done to prevent it from reoccurring.
“We set up an investigative committee to shed a light on this. We need to draw lessons from it,” says Cambodia's Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kanharith.
Whatever the committee finds, it seemed immediately apparent that Phnom Penh was unprepared to handle a massive influx of tourists that nearly tripled the city’s population to 6 million and clogged roads and bridges during the annual Water Festival. The Tourism Ministry had promoted the festival nationally and internationally with travel packages, although it was unclear if the government increased basic safety measures such as crowd control ahead of the event.
Security focused on water, not land
Tragedy has struck during the festival in past years and safety precautions this year appeared to focus on water activities. One civilian drowned this year when wading into the Bassac River, one rower died in 2009, and five Singaporean rowers drowned in 2008 when their boat capsized.
“We concentrated our security on the water,” says Mr. Khieu. “From the beginning, [Prime Minister] Hun Sen made recommendations to check all the possible risks. Everybody was looking on the security on the water, and then this happened.”
Some 10,000 people crammed late Tuesday night onto a newly built bridge – 10 times its capacity, says Khieu – that crosses from the capital over the Bassac River to a man-made entertainment island where a festival was being held to conclude the annual Water Festival.
The bridge clogged in the late evening, eyewitnesses and victims told the Monitor, with a stampede beginning around 11 p.m. The death toll rose hourly, with the Associated Press reporting 378 dead late Tuesday, and officials expecting the toll to continue to rise.
The festival marks the end of the rainy season and a time of rest from work in the rice fields, allowing millions of Cambodians to visit the capital and watch the massive boat races that pass in front of the Royal Palace. More than 400 boats participated in the three-day event, says Khieu, about 100 more than in 2009. Up to 4 million people attended, possibly 1 million more than last year.
Monks hold ceremony at bridge
Hundreds of mourners gathered Tuesday afternoon as monks in orange robes and elderly nuns in white blouses – the color of mourning – held a ceremony at the entrance to the small bridge, on which heaps of shoes, hats, and other abandoned belongings remained.
Cambodian students posted condolence messages on Facebook. Some people said Diamond Island, which until now had been the most popular spot for weddings in the city, would no longer attract young couples.
Cambodia’s King Father Norodom Sihanouk – the father of the sitting king – pledged $200 to the family of each person who died, and $100 for each who was injured. Prime Minister Hun is also providing compensation – 5 million riel ($1,230) for families of the deceased, and 1 million riel ($246) for families of the injured – and taking care of the transportation of the bodies back to the provinces.
The United Nations says about one-third of the impoverished nation lives on less than $1.25 a day, and 1 in 3 people is considered food insecure.
'Memory will haunt us'
Yet questions remained: What caused the tragedy and what could prevent it from repeating itself in the future?
“We won’t jump to any conclusions,” says Khieu, the government spokesman.
He downplayed reports that suggested the stampede was sparked by an electrocution or by police firing a water canon at civilians. He says hospital autopsies revealed no signs of electrocution, with deaths primarily from asphyxiation and internal injuries. Police did not fire a water canon at civilians, Khieu says, but tossed only water bottles to those stuck on the bridge for hours.
“We don’t know how people got stuck,” says Khieu. He did speculate that bridge itself might have attracted villagers interesting in walking the city’s first suspension bridge, which opened this year. “They felt the bridge was shaking. They didn’t realize it was normal for a suspension bridge,” he says.
As the government’s investigative committee seeks answers, lack of crowd control seems all but certain to be a major contributing cause to the incident, which the prime minister called the worst tragedy to befall the nation since the Khmer Rouge.
“This memory will be haunting us,” says Khieu.
Hun Sen rules out terrorism
via CAAI
Nov 23, 2010
DEADLY STAMPEDE IN PHNOM PENH
WORST TRAGEDY IN 31 YEARS
'This is the biggest tragedy in more than 31 years after the Pol Pot regime.' - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, referring to the murderous Khmer Rouge, whose agrarian revolution from 1975-1979 killed an estimated 1.7 million people in Cambodia under the command of Pol Pot
PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIAN Prime Minister Hun Sen urged the country to remain calm and ruled out terrorism as a cause for the catastrophe, which took place on the third and final day of the Bon Om Touk water festival, which celebrates the reversing of the current of the Tonle Sap River.
'It needs further investigation,' he said, adding that Thursday would be a national day of mourning.
Diamond Island, a small island owned by a local bank, is equipped with newly built conference and exhibition centres, restaurants and entertainment areas.It is popular among women shoppers, especially during the water festival when retailers offer discounts on clothing and other goods.
Many of the victims had been eating in outdoor restaurants or had attended a concert and were crossing the bridge to return to the city when the stampede started. An estimated 5 million of Cambodia's 14 million people visit the capital during the festival each year.
The stampede was the world's worst since January 2006, when 362 Muslim pilgrims were crushed to death while performing a stoning ritual at the entrance to the Jamarat Bridge near Mecca in Saudi Arabia. -- REUTERS
AHRC expresses sympathy, calls for investigation of stampede
http://www.pattayadailynews.com/
via CAAI
via CAAI
by Rnon » 23 Nov 2010, 15:15
CAMBODIA: AHRC expresses sympathy, calls for investigation of stampede
Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza
The AHRC wishes to express the deepest sympathies to the people of Cambodia in the aftermath of the Bon Om Touk festival stampede that this Monday night left at least 375 dead and 755 injured according to Cambodia’s Bayon TV.
Prime Minister Hun Sen recognized Monday night as "the biggest tragedy we have experienced in the last 31 years, since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime." The majority of those who perished were from rural areas. An estimated two-thirds of those who died were women, less able to fight their way from the crowds, indicating the extreme vulnerability of Cambodian women to disaster.
The AHRC calls for the government of Cambodia to adequately care for survivors and the families of those killed. Further, the government must thoroughly investigate the causes of the stampede as well as responses by police, emergency personnel, and hospitals to ensure such a tragedy does not occur again.
While the exact cause of the stampede last night remains unclear, with contradictory reports indicating it may have been instigated by either crowd antics or poor construction of the bridge to Koh Pich island, the failure of the state to control the crowd and limit the damage from the stampede is clear. Eyewitness reports state that the military used water cannons on the crowd after the stampede began, with the effect of causing electric shocks when the water intersected with the electric wiring on the bridge. In addition to death by crushing, suffocation, and drowning, there were multiple deaths due to electricity. The instances of electrocution must have stemmed from either the electric wiring on the bridge or military intervention. In either case, the government must investigate and make restitution.
It is clear, too, that Phnom Penh was unprepared for any large-scale disaster. Responses by police and military were lacking and may even have contributed to the stampede while hospitals were overwhelmed. Emergency and medical personnel resorted to piling bodies together, covering them with mats or sheets. Families were forced to attempt to lift sheets over bodies placed in makeshift morgue tents outside of the hospital or wander through corridors looking for victims. The capital possessed only 60 coffins altogether, requiring that others be gathered from outlying areas in order to provide accommodation for the bodies as they were prepared for identification and transport from the four major hospitals in the area.
Cambodia doesn't know what set off deadly stampede
via CAAI
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — At the bridge where investigators poked though the debris of a disaster — abandoned flip-flops and sneakers, water bottles, pieces of sugar cane — Chea Chan lit a Buddhist memorial offering of incense, coconut and lotus flowers, and wept.
The 28-year-old had tried to grab his younger brother during the riverside stampede that left at least 378 dead Monday night, but he was pushed against the support poles of the narrow suspension bridge. His little brother fell down and immediately was crushed under four or five other falling people.
He found his dead sibling at a local hospital, with a broken neck and crushed face. "I'm totally in shock," he said.
The victims were trampled when a crowd celebrating a holiday panicked for reasons that remained unknown Tuesday. The prime minister's special adviser, Om Yentieng, denied reports that it was sparked by a mass food poisoning, or by people being electrocuted by lighting cables.
Don Saron, 26, said she was walking across the bridge when people began shouting that it was going to collapse. She tripped and felt the crowds trampling over her face and chest.
"People were just walking here and there and all of sudden, people started to run," she said as she awaited treatment Tuesday at Calmette Hospital. She grimaced in pain as she leaned against a gurney on which she had just woken up nearly 20 hours after being caught in the stampede.
"I shouldn't have been there. Why did I come to this festival, this ceremony?" she said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen described the stampede on Koh Pich — Diamond Island — as the biggest tragedy since the communist Khmer Rouge's reign of terror, which left an estimated 1.7 million people dead in the late 1970s.
He declared Thursday a day of national mourning.
City police chief Touch Naroth said investigators were still trying to determine the cause but suggested that the bridge's small size may have contributed to the tragedy. "This is a lesson for us," he said on state TV.
State television showed horrific footage of the stampede, with thousands of twisted bodies — both dead and alive — piled atop each other, some screaming for help and grasping for hands as rescuers struggled to pull limp bodies out of the pile. Other rescuers fanned them with cardboard boxes.
On Tuesday, crowds jammed the sidewalk outside Calmette Hospital, looking for familiar faces in photos posted of unidentified victims.
Survivors recounted desperate struggles on the bridge to the island in one of the rivers running past Phnom Penh, where a huge crowd had come to celebrate the last night of a three-day holiday marking the end of rainy season. As many as 2 million people are believed to have come to the capital, and many sought to grab a final few hours of fun at a concert following the traditional boat races.
The crush of people was intense. A witness, soft drink vendor So Cheata, said about 10 people suddenly fell unconscious. Panic surged through the crowd, which pushed onto the gaily lit yellow-and-gray bridge, which was already packed with people.
Imran, an events planner from Sri Lanka who asked not to use his last name for fear of angering Cambodian clients, said he pulled at least 12 bodies from the crush. People began handing him limp children as young as 5 or 6, and bodies — dead or unconscious — covered so much of the ground in front of his stand that people had to walk over them.
Some victims complained of being electrocuted, Imran said, possibly from the wiring for the lights on the bridge, though it was unclear if the electricity had killed people or merely shocked them.
At least 755 people were injured, but government spokesman Phay Siphan said that number and the death toll could rise. Authorities said there were no foreigners among the dead or injured.
Rescuers were overwhelmed as they had to quickly pick out the dead from the living, and try to help the survivors.
"I've never come across something with such mass casualties ... in such a small area," said Paul Hurford, an Australian firefighter who runs a charity training firefighters in Cambodia and was among those called to help. "This was a devastating situation, no matter how you look at it."
Imran complained of a slow and confused response from police and medical services. He said that at one point when the cityside part of the bridge was still choked with victims, military police yelled through loudspeakers that the bridge was on fire. Some police officers also carried away unconscious victims with their heads banging against the pavement, he said.
Hun Sen ordered an investigation into the disaster and said the government would pay the families of each dead victim 5 million riel ($1,250) for funeral expenses and provide 1 million riel ($250) for each injured person.
Located on the Tonle Bassac river in southeastern Phnom Penh, Koh Pich is a former slum community that was handed over in 2006 to a company controlled by Pung Khiav Se, a tycoon connected to Hun Sen. The development, budgeted at hundreds of millions of dollars, is planned to have high-rise buildings, including what is supposed to be Asia's tallest skyscraper. It is currently much more modest, with cafes, amusement park rides and other structures.
Charles Vann, a spokesman for Pung Khiav Se, called the stampede "an accident, nothing more than an accident."
"This is no one's fault," he said. "No one could have expected this to happen."
US sends condolences to Cambodia
via CAAI
WASHINGTON - THE United States on Monday extended its 'deep condolences' for the nearly 350 lives lost during deadly stampede in Cambodia's capital.
'On behalf of President (Barack) Obama and the people of the United States, I offer our deep condolences for the tragic loss of life and the injuries in Phnom Penh during Cambodia's annual Water Festival,' said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
'Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victims and with all the people of the Kingdom of Cambodia,' she added in a statement.
Mrs Clinton remarked on the 'strength and resilience' of the Cambodian people she observed 'first hand' during her recent visit earlier this month to the country, adding: 'I am confident that they will pull together and persevere through this difficult time.'
Cambodia began the grim task on Tuesday of identifying 347 people - two thirds of them women - crushed to death in a bridge stampede when revellers panicked at a huge water festival in Phnom Penh.
More than 400 people were also injured in the disaster, Cambodia's deadliest in decades, which took place late on Monday on an overcrowded narrow bridge as millions celebrated the end of the annual three-day event. -- AFP
Thailand offers aid, condolences to Cambodia
via CAAI
2010-11-23
BANGKOK, Tuesday 23 November 2010 (AFP) - Thailand Tuesday offered an initial 30,000 dollars in emergency aid to Cambodia following the deadly tragedy in which nearly 350 people were killed at popular water festival in Phnom Penh.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also said his government was ready to provide support and assistance "to our friends in Cambodia," which shares a long border with Thailand.
"On behalf of the Thai government and the people of Thailand I wish to extend my sincere condolences and sympathy to you and through you to the bereaved families of the victims in this tragic incident," Abhisit said.
Many of the dead suffocated or were crushed after panic broke out on an overcrowded bridge late Monday as millions celebrated the end of an annual three-day event.
Thailand would offer its neighbour an initial 30,000 dollars in emergency aid, foreign ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said.
Ties between Thailand and Cambodia have been strained since a long-running dispute over a border temple flared up in 2008.
Firms seek easier access to Cambodia
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November, 23 2010
HA NOI — Despite the fact that many Vietnamese companies are increasing their investments in the promising Cambodian market, they are still faced with a number of difficulties and have asked the Government for more support.
Vietnamese firms have entered Cambodia in the fields of farm produce, finance, telecommunications, hydro-power and cash crops such as rubber, tea, sugar cane and peanuts, all areas in which the Cambodian Government has encouraged overseas investment.
In 2008, Viet Nam had just 13 projects in Cambodia with a total registered capital of US$150 million. Those figures have increased to 60 projects worth $600 million today.
Tran Bac Ha, chairman of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in Cambodia, said agriculture was a promising sector because about 80 per cent of the total Cambodian population lived off farming and the Cambodian Government planned to become a rice exporting country by 2015.
The Five Star International Group has invested $65 million on a fertiliser production factory in Cambodia.
The Viet Nam Southern Food Corporation has established a joint venture with the Cambodian Green Trade Company to upgrade a storage and rice production facility in an effort to start exporting 500,000-700,000 tonnes of rice by 2015.
"Vietnamese firms need support from the two governments with appropriate policies. To attract more Vietnamese investment in Cambodia, the two sides would devise an agricultural co-operation programme," Ha said.
The Vietnamese side could provide support to raise productivity. The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade would assist companies by supplying fertiliser and pesticide as well as expanding distribution systems, he said.
Director general of the Five Star International Group Truong Van Muoi said although fertiliser supply in the Cambodian market failed to meet demand, there were still concerns over fertiliser of unclear origins.
Enterprises operating in mineral exploitation and cash crops that require large labour forces also said they had run into difficulties.
A representative of the Viet Nam Coal and Mineral Industry Group said that according to the Cambodian Labour Law, the number of foreign workers permitted to work on a project was limited to 10 per cent of the total labour force, despite a shortage of human resources.
Another representative from the Overseas Vietnamese Association in Cambodia said Viet Nam should complete the amendment of Decree No 78/2006/ND-CP on Viet Nam's overseas investment activities to speed up the licensing process.
To bolster investment in Cambodia, the association also asked the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance to set up a support fund. In addition, the Ministry of Planning and Investment should submit a list of sectors in which it wants to encourage overseas investment to the Government, with specific and preferential policies to go with it. — VNS
Country profile: Cambodia
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The Southeast Asian nation has emerged from decades of conflict, but continues to face many challenges.
Last Modified: 22 Nov 2010
Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. King Norodom Sihamoni has reigned since 2004.
Theravada Buddhism is the official religion of Cambodia, which is practiced by around 96 per cent of the Cambodian population. The majority of Cambodians describe themselves to be Khmers, descendants of the Angkor Empire. The country's minority include Cham, ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese and various tribal groups.
Three-quarters of Cambodians depend on the land to make a living and agriculture remains the most important sector. Many farmers have been forced to sell their land to cope with financial pressures in recent years and land grabbing is a major issue.
Oil and nature gas deposits were found in Cambodian waters in 2005. Extraction is set to begin in 2011 and is predicted to have a transformative effect on the country's economy.
While there has been rapid economic growth in the past decade, this has come with a rising gap between the country’s poor and rich. Economic and political power remains in the hands of a small number of elites.
Cambodia is ranked 136 out of 179 in UNDP's Human Development Index (2008), the lowest among East Asian countries. More than a third of Cambodia's population live on less than $1 per day.
Illegal logging is prevalent throughout the country, leading to soil erosion and declining biodiversity. Fish stocks are also in decline because of overfishing.
There are up to one million small arms and light weapons in circulation in Cambodia and weapons remain "dangerously easy to obtain" and selling for as little as $25, according to Oxfam, a UK-based international development NGO.
Broadcast media is a mixture of state-owned, joint public-private, and privately-owned.
Tragic past
Cambodia was "protected" from its neighbours by the French from 1863, and became part of French Indochina in 1887.
Occupied by the Japanese during World War Two, the country won independence from the French in November 1953.
The Communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh in April 1975, after five years of fighting.
Executions, forced labour and starvation devastated the population. More than 1.5 million Cambodians died from atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge regime.
The Vietnamese invaded in December 1978, driving the Khmer Rouge into the countryside. Vietnamese occupation was to last a decade and triggered 13 years of civil war.
The Paris Peace Accords in 1991 mandated democratic elections and a ceasefire, although the Khmer Rouge did not fully abide by it.
Some surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are awaiting trial for crimes against humanity by a hybrid UN-Cambodian tribunal supported by international assistance.
At least 349 die in stampede during water festival in Cambodia
http://www.japantoday.com/
via CAAI
Tuesday 23rd November
PHNOM PENH — Thousands of people stampeded during a festival in the Cambodian capital, leaving at least 349 dead and hundreds injured in what the prime minister called the country’s biggest tragedy since the 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge.
A panic-stricken crowd — celebrating the end of the rainy season on an island in a river — tried to flee over a narrow bridge late Monday and many people were crushed underfoot or fell over its sides into the water. Disoriented victims struggled to find an escape hatch through the human mass, pushing their way in every direction. After the stampede, bodies were stacked upon bodies on the bridge as rescuers swarmed the area.
The search for bodies in and along the Bassac River continued Tuesday.
It remained unclear what sparked the stampede. The prime minister’s special adviser, Om Yentieng, denied reports that the panic was sparked by people being electrocuted by lighting cables or by a mass food poisoning. Police and witnesses pointed to the narrow bridge as providing inadequate access to and from the island.
Ambulances raced back and forth between the river and the hospitals for several hours after the stampede. 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. Relatives, some crying, searched for the missing Tuesday morning.
“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 by the panicked crowd on the bridge.
She managed to escape but described a woman, about 60 years old, lying next to her who was trampled to death by hundreds of fleeing feet.
“There were cries and calls for help from everywhere, but nobody could help each other. Everyone just ran,” she said at Calmette Hospital, where she was being treated for leg and hand injuries.
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. Hundreds of shoes, water bottles, plastic bracelets and other items were left behind on and around the bridge. An Associated Press reporter saw one body floating in the river.
The government television station said 349 people had been killed and 500 injured. Authorities said there were no foreigners among the dead or injured.
“This is the biggest tragedy we have experienced in the last 31 years, since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime,” Prime Minister Hun Sen said, referring to the ultra-communist movement whose radical policies are blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people during the 1970s.
He ordered an investigation into the cause of the stampede and declared Thursday would be a national day of mourning. Government ministries were ordered to fly the flag at half-staff. He said that the government would pay the families of each dead victim 5 million riel ($1,250) for funeral expenses and provide 1 million riel ($250) for each injured person.
City police chief Touch Naroth said Tuesday that investigators were still trying to determine the cause but suggested that the bridge’s small size may have contributed to the tragedy. “This is a lesson for us,” he said on state TV.
Authorities had estimated that upward of 2 million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day water festival, the Bon Om Touk, which marks the end of the rainy season and whose main attraction is traditional boat races along the river. In this year’s event, 420 of the long, sleek boats competed, with crews of up to 80 racers each.
The last race ended early Monday evening, the last night of the holiday, and the panic started later on Koh Pich — Diamond Island — a long spit of land wedged in a fork in the river where a concert and exhibition were being held. It was unclear how many people were on the island to celebrate the holiday, though the area appeared to be packed with people, as were the banks.
Soft drink vendor So Cheata 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. So Cheata said hundreds of hurt people lay on the ground afterward. Many appeared to be unconscious.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith gave a similar account of the cause, adding that major causes of death were asphyxiation and internal bleeding. He denied some reports that authorities fired water cannons on the crowd. He said 62 women, mostly in their 20s, have so far been identified among the dead.
On Diamond Island, two Singaporean businessmen running a sound-and-light show, blamed the stampede on poor planning by organizers.
They said authorities closed one of two bridges earlier in the day, forcing tens of thousands of people to use a single bridge to enter and leave the island.
Sonny, who asked not to use his surname so as not to jeopardize his business contacts, said after people began collapsing firefighters sprayed the crowd, apparently to try to calm it down. He also said that it was at least 1 1/2 hours after the bridge was mostly cleared before police and ambulances arrived.
Some Australian firefighters were on the scene_ it wasn’t clear why they were in town — who were checking pulses before loading bodies into vans.
Cambodia is one of the region’s poorer countries, and has an underdeveloped health system, with hospitals barely able to cope with daily medical demands. Hun Sen called on foreign investors and tourists not to shun the country because of the accident.
Koh Pich used to host a slum community, but in recent years the poor have been evicted to make way for high-rise and commercial development, most yet to be realized.
Eagles youngsters avoid Cambodia tragedy
http://www.afl.com.au/
via CAAI
via CAAI
Nic Naitanui outside notorious Toul Sleng jail in Phnom Penh, where Khmer Rouge prisoners were held and tortured
By Luke Holmesby
Tue 23 Nov, 2010
WEST Coast players and officials have avoided injury after a stampede in Cambodia killed at least 347 people on Monday night.
Eagles players and officials are in the country on a team-building exercise and were staying several kilometres away from the incident.
Revellers panicked at a huge water festival in Phnom Penh after rumours swept the area that a bridge was unstable.
Most of the deaths occurred due to internal injuries and suffocation, with a further 410 suffering injuries.
The disaster brought to an end three days of boat races, concerts and fireworks.
The Eagles' first- and second-year players were in Cambodia with coach John Worsfold and other club officials to build houses at a remote village as long-term accommodation for orphaned children.
Members of the Eagles' touring party were not aware of the festival tragedy until they learned the news on Tuesday morning.
The West Coast group will stay in Cambodia to complete their work.
AKP - Agent Kampuchea Press
via CAAI
PM Calls on Investors, Tourists Not to Worry about Their Safety
Phnom Penh, November 23, 2010 AKP -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen appealed early this morning investors and foreign tourists not to worry about their safety.
The appeal was made after hundreds of Cambodian people were killed and injured in a stampede at Koh Pich Center on Monday night, the last day of the Water Festival.
This is not a terrorist act, but a tragic incident for Cambodian people, he said.
In an emergent directive, the Cambodian premier announced Nov. 25 as the national mourning day to commemorate the people killed during this incident.
This is the biggest death toll since Pol Pot regime and even flood has never inflicted such a high death toll, Samdech Techo Hun Sen said.
The directive further recommended all state institutions and public and private establishments to hoist the flag at half mast.
The incident took place on a bridge at Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center (Koh Pich) in Phnom Penh when millions of Cambodian people celebrated the three-day Water Festival, the country’s most popular festival.
According to the Cambodian prime minister, the death toll has increased to 345, with about 391 people injured. A special commission has been set up to investigate this tragic incident.
In a statement, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation has called on all families who lost their relatives to contact the ministry or the Phnom Penh Municipality.
The government will help arrange the transportation of the corpses home and provide 5 million Riel (Cambodian currency roughly US$1,250) to each corpse, it said. --AKP
(By SOKMOM Nimul)
Adhoc illegal search case dismissed
It’s the time of prahok ... and the fishing’s easy. Hin Sothea, 22, casts his net into the waters of Choeung Ek. He already has six in the bucket and there’s obviously more to come. Photo by: PHA LINA
via CAAI
Tuesday, 23 November 2010 15:01 Tep Nimol
RATANAKKIRI provincial court dismissed a complaint letter filed by a rights group official against two police officials who allegedly entered and searched his house without a warrant in 2007.
Chhay Thy, a provincial investigator for Adhoc, filed a complaint in December 2007 accusing Banlong town deputy police chiefs Puth Savy and Mar Buntuong of entering his house without a search warrant while he was not home. It accused the pair of evading human rights and housing rights, and demanded 4 million riels (US$987) in compensation.
According to a letter signed by provincial prosecutor Ros Saram – which was signed on November 17 and seen by The Post yesterday – the complaint was dismissed without detailing a reason.
Chhay Thy said yesterday the court’s refusal to follow up the complaint was an “injustice”.
“I cannot accept the court’s decision and I will file a complaint to the Appeal Court against the decision,” he said.
Mar Buntuong said yesterday he would maintain a good relationship with Chhay Thy despite the complaint.
Provincial prosecutor Ros Saram could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Man run over by 'norrie'
A passenger boards a rail trolley cart in Pursat. Photo by: Rick Valenzuela
via CAAI
Tuesday, 23 November 2010 15:01 Sun Narin
A 22-YEAR-OLD man was killed in Pursat province’s Krakor district after he was run over by a rail trolley cart – known as a norrie – on Saturday.
Thnoat Chhrum commune police official Hong Savon said that a mix of heat and long-term use caused one of the norrie’s wheels to break. One of the passengers, Kong Tit from Kandieng district, was thrown from the norrie and fell in front of the cart. He suffered a fractured skull, a severe leg injury and several injuries to his arms. He died due to blood loss on the way to hospital.
He said the norrie – also called a bamboo horse – was on its way to Pursat town and was carrying the victim and an additional 20 passengers, as well as three tonnes of rice. Police are now searching for the lorry driver who fled the scene, and who Hong Savon said was not permitted to use the tracks.
He added that in late 2009, there was a similar incident which seriously injured five people.
Ly Borin, the director of Rail Road Department in Phnom Penh, said that “[driving norries] can cause accidents every time. The government is not responsible for them because it is illegal to drive the norries and the owner will be punished.“
He added that the railway is designed for the use of trains only, and that authorities do not allow any norries to do business on the rail line.
Workers defrauded: Company complaint on woman
via CAAI
Tuesday, 23 November 2010 15:01 Chrann Chamroeun
A WOMAN has been accused of using the name of an investment group to cheat prospective migrant workers out of more than US$8,000 and promising them work in Thailand.
Njek Sothea, company director of the SKMM Investment Group, who supply workers to Thailand, Malaysia and Japan, said the group filed a complaint with the Labour Ministry accusing Pol Khmea of using their name and documents to cheat workers out of between $160 to $200 each.
“Mrs Khmea took our legal documents from our company for workers to gain their trust and take money from them,” she said. “We complained to the Ministry of Interior police to ask her to stop her illegal activities, and to repay the money to the workers and return our documents.”
She said if the matter is not resolved soon, the company would file a complaint with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.
But Pu Huy, director of the Seeking Employment for Workers bureau at the Ministry of Labour, said the accusations made by the group were false.
“The matter has already been settled,” he said.
Pol Khmea could be reached for comment yesterday.
Confronting a bloody legacy
Former Khmer Rouge fighter Uch Sokhon points to a photo of his brother in the Tuol Sleng genocide museum. AFP
via CAAI
Tuesday, 23 November 2010 15:01 Suy Se
Stumbling across the photo of his twin brother who died more than three decades ago was the last thing former Khmer Rouge fighter Uch Sokhon expected on a visit to Cambodia’s genocide museum.
“I feel shocked,” the 53-year-old said, gently wiping the dusty glass frame holding a black-and-white image of his brother, immortalised at the age of 20. “But it was a long time ago.”
The picture is one of hundreds of mugshots of condemned prisoners on display at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum in Phnom Penh, where as many as 15,000 inmates, including women and children, were sent to their deaths.
Sokhon and some 300 other people, mainly former Khmer Rouge supporters and fighters, recently travelled all night on buses from the northwestern Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin to tour the prison for the first time.
The trip was organised by the United Nations-backed war crimes court, which was set up in 2006 to bring ex-regime leaders to justice and aims to increase awareness among Cambodians about the ongoing trials.
Confronting victims as well as former soldiers and cadres with the jail and the court’s work is a key part of bringing closure to the past, a court spokesman said.
“We believe it is easier for people to understand the mission of the tribunal when they see Tuol Sleng and the court with their own eyes,” Lars Olsen said.
Former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, was the first to face justice at the UN-backed court.
Walking past the tiny cells that held some of the prisoners, including perhaps his own brother, and after inspecting the torture implements on display, Sokhon says he regrets his own past actions.
“I feel remorse and pain because I also used to be a fighter for Democratic Kampuchea [the Khmer Rouge],” said the teary-eyed civil servant.
Sokhon said he and his identical twin Sokhan both joined the hardline communist movement in 1971 aged only 15 because it was the only way to survive.
But the regime turned against Sokhan when he tried to help a relative who had caused a minor accident with a tractor in February 1976.
“I warned my brother not to help our cousin; otherwise he would lose his position and be arrested,” Sokhon said. “But he said he must help him.
“A few days later I was told that my brother was arrested ... And I knew he had been sent to Tuol Sleng.”
Despite his brother’s detainment, Sokhon continued to fight for the Khmer Rouge – even after Vietnamese forces ousted them from the capital in 1979.
After years of combat, Sokhon defected to the government in 1996 alongside the regime’s foreign minister Ieng Sary.
Cambodian and international prosecutors have disagreed on whether to pursue more suspects and Prime Minister Hun Sen told UN chief Ban Ki-moon last month that a third case was “not allowed” because it could spark renewed civil war.
Sokhon said his own personal journey to face the past was over.
“I don’t want to remember. I want it to end here. But that does not mean I still support the Khmer Rouge,” he said. AFP
Police Blotter: 23 Nov 2010
via CAAI
Tuesday, 23 November 2010 15:01 Sun Narin
Dancing ‘gangsters’ kill MC with timber
A group of “gangsters” beat a 30-year-old man to death with a piece of wood in Stung Treng’s Thala Barviat district on Saturday. A witness said that the gangsters had enetered a pagoda to dance the night away, but neglected to pay at the door for the privilege. The victim grabbed the nearest microphone and told the men, in front of the crowd, that anyone who wanted to dance had to pay a contribution to the pagoda. Instead of paying, they beat the announcer to death with a metre-length piece of timber. The gangsters fled the scene. KAMPUCHEA THMEY
Jealousy blamed for wife stabbing husband
A 26-year-old man was stabbed in the chest by his jealous wife in Sihanoukville on Saturday night. Villagers said the spouse worked nights at an “entertainment club”. Witnesses heard the couple arguing before the husband began screaming for help. When the villagers went to investigate, they found the man bleeding from the chest. He was sent to hospital but died on the way. Villagers said the woman was jealous that her husband “played with the girls in the club”. KOH SANTEPHEAP
Man kills himself, police say it’s a ‘small’ issue
A man committed suicide by jumping from a 65-metre-high antenna on Friday because he could not find the money to pay a fine he had incurred for entering his neighbour’s house illegally. The victim’s family said he was fined 3 million riels (US$740) for entering the house in a drunken state in Preah Vihear town on Thursday. He told his wife that he could no longer face the world if he could not come up with the money. Two hours later, he climbed the antenna and his family was unable to stop him from plunging to his death. Police said that this was “a small problem”. KAMPUCHEA THMEY
Transport lorry flips, kills two and injures 20
Two men died and another 20 were severely injured when the truck transporting them tipped over in Banteay Meanchey on Friday. Police said the truck was driving from a local Buddhist ceremony,when the gear stick failed and the truck tipped. The driver survived but the two passengers in the front seat were killed. RASMEY KAMPUCHEA
Speeding motorbike ploughs into old lady
A 78-year-old woman was killed when a speeding motorbike collided with her in Kampot province’s Teuk Chhou district on Saturday. Police said that the elderly woman was crossing the road when the bike rider came from nowhere and crashed straight into her. An ambulance was called and they began to take her to the local hospital, but she died in transit. RASMEY KAMPUCHEA
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