Cambodia stampede kills at least 345 at festival

A stampede on a bridge in Cambodia's capital killed at least 345 people and injured nearly as many after thousands panicked on the last day of a water festival, authorities and state media said on Tuesday.

Witnesses said the stampede began after several people were electrocuted late on Monday on a small bridge lined with lights connecting Phnom Penh to a nearby island where thousands had gathered to celebrate the water festival and watch a concert.

Most drowned, suffocated or were trampled while trying to leave the bridge. Many had been eating in outdoor restaurants and were crossing the bridge to return to the city.

"I was stuck in the crowd for a long time and it was so hot and I lost consciousness," survivor Huon Khla, 22, told Reuters.

State television said at least 240 of the dead were women. "People were carrying bodies of relatives, including children and women," said Vann Thon, 25. "Everyone was looking scared."

Prime Minister Hun Sen apologised for the disaster in which at least 329 people were hurt. He ordered an investigation as television footage showed relatives weeping over the bodies of the dead piled one on top of the other.

"This is the biggest tragedy in more than 31 years after the Pol Pot regime," he said, referring to the Khmer Rouge, whose agrarian revolution from 1975-1979 killed an estimated 1.7 million people in Cambodia under the command of Pol Pot.

Emergency crews carried inert bodies away from the scene. Dozens of victims were laid out in long rows for identification.

A paramedic desperately tried to revive one victim before giving up on the lifeless body, while other rescuers helped the injured into a fleet of waiting ambulances.

Investigation underway

The rescue effort went on into early Tuesday. 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 celebrating the reversing of the current of the Tonle Sap River.

An estimated 5 million of Cambodia's 14 million people visit the capital during the festival each year.

"It needs further investigation," he said, declaring Thursday a national day of mourning.

Flashing coloured lights along the sides of the small bridge at the heart of the disaster shed a fitful light on the scene -- a road strewn with shoes, clothes and possessions discarded in the panic that gripped the crowds when the crush occurred.

The bridge connects the capital to Koh Pich, or Diamond Island, a small stretch of land owned by a local bank and filled with new 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.

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.