柬埔寨金边市附近的钻石岛地区在当地时间11月22日晚发生严重踩踏事故，目前已经造成399人死亡、735人受伤。

　　据马来西亚《星洲日报》11月24日消息，当地媒体于23日晚间公布，这起柬埔寨31年来死伤最惨重的意外已造成至少399人丧生。当地政府已宣布本周四（11月25日）为全国哀悼日，届时国内所有机构将为遇难者降半旗致哀。

　　报道称，事发时，有不少人情急之下从桥上跳进水里，却因不会游泳而淹死。救援人员昨日继续在事发地点的河流中搜索失踪者，预计死亡人数仍有上升的可能性。

柬埔寨发生严重踩踏事故已345人遇难(组图)

11月23日，在柬埔寨金边，人们站在踩踏事件遇难者遗体旁。新华社/法新

11月23日，柬埔寨军警在金边搬运踩踏事件遇难者遗体。新华社/法新

11月23日，医护人员在柬埔寨金边一家医院抢救踩踏事件伤者。新华社/路透

11月23日，医护人员在柬埔寨金边一家医院抢救踩踏事件伤者。新华社/路透

据中央电视台新闻报道，柬埔寨金边的踩踏事故已造成345人遇难。

新华网金边11月23日电（记者 雷柏松 张瑞玲）柬埔寨首相洪森23日凌晨发表电视讲话说，22日夜里发生在首都金边钻石岛上的严重踩踏事件已经造成至少339人死亡，数百人受伤，估计死亡人数还会增加。

洪森对事件中的不幸死难者表示沉痛哀悼，对死难者家属和伤者表示慰问。洪森要求有关方面尽一切努力抢救受伤者，并下令对事故原因展开彻底调查。但他指出，初步调查表明，这起事件与恐怖主义行动无关。

22日是柬埔寨为期三天传统送水节的最后一天，全国各地约有300万人涌向金边观看在王宫前的洞里萨河上举行的龙舟大赛以及在金边钻石岛等地的庆祝活动。

新华社记者在事故现场了解到，当晚大批民众涌向金边钻石岛参加庆祝活动。当地时间22日23时左右，由于游人太多，金边市区连接钻石岛的一座桥产生晃动，引起人们恐慌，导致相互拥挤踩踏，近百人被当场踩死，另外数百名伤者被送往金边甘密等医院救治，其中不少伤者因伤势过重救治无效死亡。

345 die in stampede at Cambodian festival

(Agencies)

Updated: 2010-11-23 08:51 Comments(0) PrintMail  Large Medium Small 

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Thousands of people stampeded during a festival in the Cambodian capital, leaving at least 345 dead and hundreds injured in what the prime minister called the country's biggest tragedy since the 1970s.

Some in the panicky crowd - who were celebrating the end of the rainy season on a sliver of land in a river - tried to flee over a bridge and were crushed underfoot or fell over its sides into the water. A witness who arrived shortly after the stampede Monday night described "bodies stacked on bodies" on the bridge as rescuers swarmed the area.

Ambulances raced back and forth between the river and the hospitals for several hours after the stampede. Calmette Hospital, the capital's main medical facility, was filled to capacity with bodies as well as patients, some of whom had to be treated in hallways. Many of the injured appeared to be badly hurt, raising the prospect that the death toll could rise as local hospitals became overwhelmed.

Hours after the chaos, the dead and injured were still being taken away from the scene, while searchers looked for bodies of anyone who might have drowned. A reporter saw one body floating in the river, and hundreds of shoes left behind on and around the bridge.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, speaking Tuesday morning, said that 345 people had been killed and more than 320 injured. He described the chaos as the biggest tragedy to strike his country since the rule of the Khmer Rouge, whose policies are blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people during the 1970s.

He ordered an investigation into the cause of the stampede and declared Thursday would be a national day of mourning. Government ministries were ordered to fly the flag at half-staff. He said that the government would pay the families of each dead victim 5 million riel ($1,250) for funeral expenses and provide 1 million riel ($250) for each injured person.

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.

The last race ended early Monday evening, the last night of the holiday, and the panic started later on Koh Pich - Diamond Island - a long spit of land wedged in a fork in the river where a concert was being held. It was unclear how many people were on the island to celebrate the holiday, though the area appeared to be packed with people, as were the banks.

Soft drink vendor So Cheata said the trouble began when about 10 people fell unconscious in the press of the crowd. She said that set off a panic, which then turned into a stampede, with many people caught underfoot.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith gave a similar account of the cause.

Seeking to escape the island, part of the crowd pushed onto a bridge, which also jammed up, with people falling under others and into the water. So Cheata said hundreds of hurt people lay on the ground afterward. Many appeared to be unconscious.

Philip Heijmans, a 27-year-old photographer from Brooklyn, New York, who arrived at the scene half-an-hour after the stampede, walked up the bridge to see hundreds of shoes and pieces of clothing, then a body, then more "bodies stacked on bodies."

He counted about 40 in all, with about 200 rescuers in the area. Some Australian firefighters were on the scene - it wasn't clear why they were in town - who were checking pulses before loading bodies into vans.

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.

Koh Pich used to host a slum community, but in recent years the poor have been evicted to make way for high-rise and commercial development, most yet to be realized.