Crowd Panic Causes Deadly Crush in Cambodia

Posted on Nov 22, 2010

AP / Heng Sinith

An injured woman is carried by Cambodian police officers after people crowded onto a bridge in Phnom Penh stampeded in panic.

A local festival took a fatal turn in Cambodia on Monday night, when a stampede occurred after panic broke out among a crowd packed onto a bridge, causing dozens to be trampled or flung off the side. The BBC reported that the death toll was at least 278, with hundreds more injured. —KA

Update:According to the Los Angeles Times, over 330 people were killed in the incident.

BBC:

The authorities had estimated that more than two million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day festival.

Panic occurred after a concert on Diamond Island, which followed a boat race on the Tonle Sap river regarded as a highlight of the festivities.

The bridge became jammed up with people, some crushed under foot and others falling into the water.

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