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STAMPEDE KILLING HUNDREDS AT KOH PICH
the former site of massive, brutal land evictions
A dozen mourners led by a handful of monks at the cordoned-off entrance of Koh Pich swaying bridge, a very contained site which swallowed hundreds of young (disproportionately female, 2/3 !) lives earlier this week. Life is but a breath, echoing the Psalmist of long ago. (Photo: Theary Seng, Sunday, 28 Nov. 2010)
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The Blessing of Gratitude
We mourn as we praise. During this season of sobering Thanksgiving, we remember the preciousness of life and renew our vows to treasure and protect it. In gratitude for all the blessings of past years and the years to come, in solidarity with the aggrieved, we pray and praise amid our tears.
- Theary Seng, Phnom Penh, 23 Nov. 2010
The Wave Project is accepting online donation for Koh Pich victims' families.
CIVICUS-CJR Public Message of Condolences
Questions Remain in Cambodia Crush
(International Herald Tribune, 25 Nov. 2010)
Cambodia Holds Day of Mourning for Stampede Victims
(BBC, 24 Nov. 2010)
Scenes of Grief Amid Cambodia Crush Carnage
(BBC, 23 Nov. 2010)
375 Dead, 755 injured
Day After Photos (Reuters, AFP)
Arduous tasks of identifying victims
Cambodia Bridge Tragedy
- a brilliant piece by Luke Hunt for The Diplomat
[Updated at 4:25 p.m.] Steve Finch, a Phnom Penh Post reporter, told CNN that the stampede at the water festival in Phnom Penh began around 10 p.m. Monday (10 a.m. ET), when police began firing a water cannon onto a bridge to an island in the center of a river.
The bridge was packed with people, and police fired the water cannon in an effort to get them to move, he said.
"That just caused complete and utter panic," he told CNN in a telephone interview. He said a number of people lost consciousness and fell into the water; some may have died by electric shock, he said.
Watch: "It was chaos," reporter says
Finch cited witnesses as saying that the bridge was festooned with electric lights, which may have played a role in the deaths.
The government denied anyone died by electric shock.
But a doctor who declined to be identified publicly said the main cause of death was suffocation and electric shock. Police were among the dead, he said.
While Finch said the incident apparently coincided with the firing of the water cannon, a witness, Ouk Sokhhoeun, 21, told the Phnom Penh Post that the stampede began first.
In addition to the 339 people who have been confirmed dead, 329 people were injured, Prime Minister Hun Sen said, according to The Phnom Penh Post.
The incident happened on the final day of the three-day festival, according to The Phnom Peng Post. The festival, which attracts people from all over Cambodia, is held annually to commemorate a victory by the Cambodian naval forces during the 12th century reign of King Jayavarman VII, according to the Tourism Cambodia website.
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Front page of International Herald Tribune
AP photo of stampede on Koh Pich (Diamond Island)
Festival stampede worst tragedy since Khmer Rouge K-5, says PM
K-5 Plan
The Bamboo Wall: Cambodia After Pol Pot
by Dr. Esmeralda Luciolli)
To give a sense of proximity: Koh Pich (Diamond Island) is across the river from the obscene Naga Casino, near the Royal Palace and the heavy trafficked Sisowath Quay, less than one mile from my house.
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Peace I leave with you. - Jesus Christ
My temporary Facebook Profile Photo in solidarity with the grieving and loss, before reverting back to Civil Resistance Photo.
Miss Me But Let Me Go
– Author Unknown
When I come to the end of the road
and the sun has set on me,
I want no rites in a gloom filled room,
why cry for a soul set free.
Miss me a little--but not too long,
and not with your head bowed low,
Remember the love that we once shared,
miss me--but let me go.
For this is a journey that we all must take,
and each must go alone.
It's all a part of the Master's plan,
a step on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick of heart,
go to the friends we know.
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds,
miss me--but let me go.
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