Cambodia’s prime minister wept at the spot where hundreds died during a riverside stampede, as the country began a day of mourning for victims.
Hun Sen’s tears came as he lit candles and incense at the narrow bridge where tens of thousands of festival-goers panicked, trampling hundreds underfoot, on Monday.
There has been confusion over the exact number of deaths. The latest official casualty tally from the incident was 347 dead and 395 injured, down from earlier official figures.
The premier was joined at the Bassac River in the capital Phnom Penh by his wife Bun Rany and cabinet members. Flags throughout the country were flying at half-mast and a Buddhist ceremony was being held later.
A government investigation showed that as the suspension bridge swayed under the weight of thousands of revellers, some began to shout that the structure was going to collapse. Others pushed, heaved and even jumped off the span as a panic took hold that ended in the mass deaths.
“People became panicked when they saw other people fall down, and they started running when they heard cries that the bridge was going to collapse,” city police chief Touch Naroth said.
The official investigation into the accident continues with a final report expected next week, said Om Yentieng, a member of the investigating committee. He said earlier casualty figures were not correct due to overlapping of counts by various institutions.
Mr Sen described the stampede as the biggest tragedy since the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror, which killed an estimated 1.7 million people in the late 1970s.
During today’s day of mourning, the Tourism Ministry asked all entertainment venues, including karaoke parlours, nightclubs, beer gardens and discos, to close for the day.
The stampede happened during celebrations of a three-day holiday marking the end of the monsoon season, when as many as two million people were believed to have come to the capital.
As festivities wrapped up on Monday night, tens of thousands flocked to a free concert on an island in the Bassac River.
An estimated 7,000 to 8,000 people were streaming over a bridge that connects the island to the mainland when it began to sway, according to Banyon TV, which serves as a mouthpiece for the government and was citing the investigation committee.
Mr Om Yentieng said there were no signs on the dead bodies that any had been electrocuted as some earlier reports suggested.
Earlier, street cleaners removed the debris that littered the yellow-and-grey bridge after the disaster, including rubber sandals and other footwear, plastic bracelets, water bottles, condom wrappers and pieces of sugar cane pieces, a local snack.
AP