PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP/The Blaze) — An estimated 339 people died Monday evening in a stampede during the celebration of a water festival in Cambodia’s capital city, and hundreds more have reportedly been injured.
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.
A soft drink vendor at the event told the Associated Press the stampede started when 10 people in the crowd fainted, causing others around them to panic and run. As more people tried to get off the island, the large crowd stormed a bridge to the mainland which collapsed and dropped many people into the water below.
Organizers had reportedly expected the festival to draw up to two million attendees, but according to CNN, over 4 million people were in attendance when the stampede took place.
Prime Minister Hun Sen held initial press conference to announce the death toll below 200 before later announcing it had jumped to 339, with 329 injured.
The stampede marks the country’s “biggest tragedy” since the Khmer Rouge‘s reign of terror during the 1970s, he said.
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.
Ambulances raced back and forth between the river and the city’s largest hospital for several hours after the stampede, while onlookers and relatives waited outside. The capital‘s hospitals are struggling to treat all the wounded and overcrowding has forced some patients to be tended to in the hospitals’ hallways.
An employee of Calmette Hospital, where most of the casualties were being taken, said earlier that it had received 17 bodies, and an Associated Press reporter later saw an army truck bring another five. The hospital employee spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
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common everyday citizen
Posted on November 23, 2010 at 8:01amAwesome “celebration” must have been one heck of a Party!
Report Post »MUDFLAPS
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 11:09pmPhiladelphia is taking Glenn and Hannity off the air
Report Post »red penny
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 10:48pmCambodian population control[].Messy but effective.
Report Post »MeteoricLimbo
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 10:28pmDarwin got a strike.
Report Post »Archstone
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 10:19pmShoes don’t kill people, stampeding people kill people.
Report Post »I thought it was going to be an animal stampede, my bad.
MONEY_FOR_NOTHING
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 8:39pmApparently, several people were electrocuted on the bridge. Colored lights were strung up on the bridge for the celebration. SE Asia is notorious for abandoning safety for convenience. Cambodia is a poor country with little regard for the dangers of electricity. The panic is understandable.
Report Post »USMCRETIRED2001
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 8:18pmDid THEY Already experience BLACK FRIDAY ??
Report Post »I wonder what kind of bargains they stampeded for?
dontbotherme
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 7:42pmLarge gathering of people. Fear. Panic & death. Some of the comments made here are so sad & pathetic. Where is your humanity? God Bless all the injured & families.
Report Post »defendthyself
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 7:11pmI’m thinking this tragedy shows how much fear there is everywhere over the possibility of a terror event. If I were in a crowd that big, and suddenly saw one person after another faint, I’d be pretty anxious to bolt out of there myself. I’d be wondering about biohazardous material in the air… who knows?
Report Post »It’s easy to criticize others for panicking (I don’t think it has anything to do with the culture of the people or where it occurred)… but if the same happened here in the U.S. in the same size crowd, I‘d bet we’d be humbled at how quickly we might also panic.
dontbotherme
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 7:38pmThank you. You have restored my faith in the quality of people who make responses here a little. You are correct. It’s amazing what fear does to a crowd.
Report Post »aLinedog
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 6:57pmI have to agree with Cog on this one, originally that is. No reason to make political hay at every single posting. And speaking of idiot people:
Report Post »2million, 4 million? An island… who was that congressman talking about Guam tipping into the ocean… did his state fire him?
Stupid people shouldn’t breathe.
-Line
Jezreel
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 6:45pmThey must have stampeded out of fear by imagining demonic influence on the people who fainted. They became victims of their own perverse religeon. Poor blind souls. In this case, the demon of fear did win over them.
Report Post »paleoconservatarian
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 6:38pm@Blaze / Meredith Jessup. It is somewhat incongruous to read of a collapsed bridge while watching a video of a fully intact bridge.
Report Post »chickenlittle
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 6:05pmThis is the best string of comments I’ve read all day.
Report Post »DagneyT
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:53pmThe story made me wonder what has the people so spooked that they would stampede with such a small incident. Something else has been going on in PHNOM PENH to have given spark to this fire. There is where the real story lies.
Report Post »starman70
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 8:31pmThe world population control freaks at the U.N. caused the problem. After all, they want the world’s population to be reduced from the present 6 Billion to about 1.5 Billion.
Report Post »NickDeringer
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:44pmThis is a thread-jacking. Just cooperate and nobody gets hurt….
I went to the food court and a Hallelujah Chorus broke out. http://tinyurl.com/36tdpxn
Report Post »PorchMonkey
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:34pmThey were all running for the dry spot……………….
Report Post »knotaclu
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:33pm2 to 4 million people were expected to descend to this event. I can’t think of one thing happening anywhere in the world that would be worth going to where that many people were expected. Seriously, I don’t understand traditions and things like this that happen in foreign countries….
Report Post »cognitivedissonance
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:43pmthat‘s probably why you’re ignorant!
Report Post »knotaclu
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:55pm@ cognitiveblahblah…:
Report Post »why do you have to smear your politics all over human tragedy, blah blah…..
heavyduty
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:27pmThis is what happens when you get two million people together for a party. Someone farts and the next thing you know you have over 300 dead and another 300 injured. Don’t light a match.
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:27pmBiggest Tragedy since the Khmer Rouge Period
Report Post »1.4 -2.2 Million people exectuted or starved to death. Another Feather in the cap of socialists and marxists. And no Obamacare??
starman70
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 8:26pmThe healthcare system in Cambodia is what ours will look like in about 20 years under Obamacare!
Report Post »Have-Gun-Will-Travel
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:25pmI thought this almost happened here a few months ago in Atlanta when they were in line for section 8 housing coupons
Report Post »exliberalgrl
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 6:19pmLOL sounds about right
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 7:45pmThought the same here too.
Report Post »WAR PIGS CRAWLING
Posted on November 23, 2010 at 9:59amOne was caused by fear, the other by greed.
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:24pmi blame the cambodian government fully for this. their lack of effort in educating their population is a direct cause to this tragedy. ignorance causes fear when people dont understand things that happen around them.
expect lots of tragedies in the coming future, when people finally wake up and see what the progressives and the child in chief have attempted to do here
Report Post »NickDeringer
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:33pmIt‘s Bush’s fault.
Report Post »knotaclu
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:56pm@nickderinger:
Report Post »Careful, cognativeblahblah is gonna jump you for saying things like this…..
paleoconservatarian
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 6:36pm@Psychosis, what a completely idiotic statement. No government is responsible for the actions of a crowd suffering from mass panic.
Stampede stories come from all over the world, even America. Or do you blame Black Friday crushings on our communist overlords?
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 7:39pmPsychosis sometimes these events just happen, panic can set in from one person reacting over a event, and it spreads like a ripple in a pond, then turns into a flood. Emotions getting stirred up on the basis of fear, anger, or survival desperation are some of the most powerful among humanity. No one should be blamed until the facts are known, and if criminal negligence is found, then let them be dealt with.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:24pmThis story doesn’t sound right. Most of the time when people faint, others will go to their aid. I guess it is different in Cambodia. Sure makes you wonder.
Report Post »SHTFMilitia.com
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 6:14pmYea i heard it on the radio today and was like WHAT ?
If you are prepared you may survive,
Report Post »http://www.shtfmilitia.com
paleoconservatarian
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 6:31pmCrowd psychology works differently than individual psychology.
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 7:36pmpaleoconservatarian is correct, a crowd mentality is one of the greatest or vicious events around among humanity; people get caught up in events even without understanding what is truly going on, or has happened. Rabble rousers and rioters are very good at causing such things to occur when they need it to happen.
http://www.artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm
Report Post »firstHat
Posted on November 23, 2010 at 1:22pmActually, knowing the history of the region — knowing that it suffered bloody mass murders — I can actually understand why some would panic if others started fainting. What better way to kill off people who hold a specific belief than to corner all of them on an island while they participate in a festival then gas them. I didn’t think “stupid” people, I thought sad sad people who have to think the worst in any given situation.
Report Post »NickDeringer
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:21pmThat does it. I think there ought to be a law against stampeding.
Report Post »Sledgehammer
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:32pmOh, come on now, that is truely draconian! Let‘s just organize it so it’s socially fair, we’ll have George Soros head the committee!
Report Post »knotaclu
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:33pmand fainting too….
Report Post »Have-Gun-Will-Travel
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:35pmBan stupid people
Report Post »knotaclu
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:42pm@sledgehammer: apparently they do not have Community Organizers in Cambodia. I know one they can have…..
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:43pmHave Gun
Paladin would have shot “Stupid”
Report Post »cognitivedissonance
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:45pmWhy do you need to smear you politics all over human tragedy, can‘t something happen in the world without you trying to make some swipe against someone you don’t like politically. 300 people didn’t die just so you could make a bad joke.
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:54pmCog
It’s “your politics” not “ you politics”
you not smarter than a fifth grader
Report Post »NickDeringer
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 5:58pm@cognitivedissonance
No. I am protesting against people who slow down at fatal car accidents to amuse themselves with the suffering of others. Did you click on this thread expecting to see piles of dead bodies? Are you amused yet?
Report Post »cognitivedissonance
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 6:25pmOh please, I actually don’t know why this is even a topic on this site since none of you ever have anything pleasant to say about another persons suffering.
Report Post »paleoconservatarian
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 6:29pm@Nickderinger, I don’t believe @cognitivedissonance was referring to your post.
Report Post »what4
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 7:43pmI heard it was because someone farted!
Report Post »PubliusPencilman
Posted on November 22, 2010 at 8:56pmI’m with Cognitive. How can any of you claim you have any sort of respect for life when you use a tragedy like this to take potshots at Soros and liberals. Truly scummy folks. No two ways around it.
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