Secure online donations to the victims of Koh Pich tragedy accepted at The WAVE Project

This week's Water Festival tragedy in Cambodia has shocked and saddened us all.Our friends at Strey Khmer in Phnom Penh have been part of the relief effort - working without pause, caring for the injured, comforting and reuniting grief-stricken survivors, providing food and shelter.In the spirit of Thanksgiving, please consider helping those whose lives have been forever changed by this horrific event.Your generous donation is tax deductible as allowed by law, and much appreciated. Donation can be made at: http://www.thewaveproject.org/ (use the "Donate" link at the bottom right hand side of the page), or click here to go The Wave's donation...

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Monks bless dead after horror [-Koh Pich bridge: the "gate to hell"]

Nov 24, 2010ReutersDESPERATE SCREAMSScores of people leapt to their deaths from the pedestrian bridge, unable to swim and dragged under water amid frantic splashing as desperate and panicked people plunged down from above.While many victims drowned, most perished while trapped under the weight of hundreds of fleeing revellers.Hours after the tragedy, the scene was untouched. Shoes, flip-flops and ripped clothing piled up a foot high across some parts of the 80m bridge linking Phnom Penh to a gawdy man-made entertainment island packed with restaurants, fairground rides and exhibition centres.Hundreds of onlookers endured the stench of rotting garbage and tip-toed across the trampled grass to get a glimpse at the place where so many died.Many people sat in silence on the steep...

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Condolences from Khmer Youth Association

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Cambodia mourns festival tragedy

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Cambodia mourns stampede victims

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Aftermath of the stampede video

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Stampede Toll Increases in Cambodia

Questions Mount About Cause of the Deadly Accident, as Country Prepares for a Day of Mourning.NOVEMBER 24, 2010By PATRICK BARTAThe Wall Street JournalPHNOM PENH, Cambodia—Questions about what caused a deadly bridge stampede in Cambodia's capital late Monday mounted as the country prepared for a day of mourning later in the week.The death toll from the stampede, at the end of Cambodia's annual water festival, rose to 378 on Tuesday, with hundreds more injured. Many of the injured rested on mats in the hallways of Phnom Penh's main hospital, which didn't have enough rooms for the victims, while relatives identified bodies laid out at the back of property. Authorities trawled waters beneath the bridge where the disaster occurred for more bodies. It wasn't clear what triggered the...

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Cambodian survivors tell of their festival stampede hell

November 24, 2010Martin Petty and Prak Chan ThulReuters PHNOM PENH: Buddhist monks chanted as onlookers gazed silently across a bridge piled with the shoes and torn clothing left by victims of a stampede in Cambodia's capital here. The body count stood at 375 yesterday and was expected to rise. About 755 people were injured and many people are missing. The stampede on the Diamond Gate bridge occurred late on Monday, the last day of the yearly three-day Water Festival marking the end of the rainy season. "Everyone is shocked that this can happen to us," said Chhun Sreypong, 45, clutching her baby and looking across Phnom Penh's river, the Tonle Sap, from which scores of bodies were dragged. "Most of those who died were youngsters." Survivors told of being buried beneath piles of...

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Anger and grief as Cambodia mourns stampede dead

November 24, 2010Kelly Macnamara AFPGrieving Cambodian families on Wednesday began paying their last respects to relatives among the nearly 380 victims killed in a festival stampede, as anger built over security at the event.Authorities were probing why the throngs of revellers had panicked at the annual water festival, crushing and trampling people underfoot on an overcrowded narrow bridge in Phnom Penh.The government admitted it had overlooked issues of crowd control at the three-day event, which attracted some three million revellers to the capital from all over Cambodia."We were concerned about the possibilities of boats capsizing and pick-pocketing. We did well, but we did not think about this kind of incident," government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP.A committee...

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Eight Vietnamese killed in Cambodia water festival stampede

11/24/2010VOV News (Hanoi)At least 8 Vietnamese were killed, 8 other injured, and 5 are still missing after the Diamond Bridge stampede during a water festival in Phnom Penh, according to the Vietnam Embassy in Cambodia on November 23. Some travel agencies say those Vietnamese who attended the water festival as part of their package tour are safe.Tuyet Mai, a representative from Fiditour Company said the disaster occurred after they had already returned to Vietnam. Trinh Quoc Minh from the Lua Viet office in Cambodia said his visitors are also safe after the eve...

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Condolences from KEA Inc.

CONDOLENCES TO VICTIM’S FAMILIESKHMER ENTERTAINMENT OF AMERICA, INC.7863 Broadway, Lemon Grove, California 91945, United States of America (USA)Tel: (619) 840-6651- Fax: (619) 583-5813 - email: cheanglp@cox.netOn behalf of the KHMER ENTERTAINMENT OF AMERICA, Inc. and families of all officers, I am saddened for the loss of hundreds of lives at Koh Pich Bridge, during the last day of Water Festival, in Phnom Penh.We would like to extend our profound condolences and best wishes for quick recovery to the families and friends of those lost or injured in the unfortunate stampede in Koh Pich.Our thoughts and prayers are with the families...

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"Koss Pich Pruos Punleu, Khmer Chheu Kann Tuk " a Poem in Khmer by a Group of Poets

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A Tragedy Waiting to Happen

Wednesday, November 24, 2010Op-Ed by MPThis is not the time for recriminations or apportioning blame, but a public tragedy and grief of this magnitude demand or deserves at least a thorough, open post-mortem examination, if only to prevent similar events from ever taking place again. The term ‘tragedy’ is usually used to describe a misfortune or a calamitous incident mediated through the agency of human practice or malpractice. This practice could bear the imprint of deliberate intentions on the part of human agents themselves, or be a consequence of sheer negligence or incompetence on the part of those involved or entrusted with the responsibility towards maintaining public order and safety. On the other hand, we describe those events as ‘disasters’ where the forces of nature...

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Cambodians try to handle aftermath of deadly stampede

November 24 2010Source: Xinhua"I went to that island with my boyfriend last night to celebrate the Water Festival, but now I don't know his whereabout...I even don't know whether he is alive or not," said Na Song, a 22-year-old girl lying on a shabby mat along the corridor of the inpatient building of Calmette Hospital.Na's mother, Thean Veng, said she got the news from Na's friend this morning that her daughter was one of the victims of the deadly stampede on a bridge, connecting an entertainment complex at Diamond Island and the mainland Phnom Penh."My daughter had difficulties in breathing and was once in critical condition. Now she still suffers severe stomachache and can eat nothing," said Thean Veng, who was from the Kampong Chuang province.Monday, the final day of the...

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Our Sincere Condolences to the Family of the Victims of Koh Pich

Dear Compatriots,KI-Media team would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family of the victims from the stampede in Koh Pich. Please accept our deepest sympathy in your time of loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.Lo...

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Families to pay respects to Cambodia crush victims

Relatives mourn the loss of their younger brother among victims of the stampede placed inside a makeshift morgue inside the Calmette hospital in PhnomPenh on November 23, 2010. (AFP/Hoang Dinh Nam) Cambodian Buddhist monks gather to pray for victims of the stampede in front of the bridge in Phnom Penh on November 23, 2010. Grieving families in Cambodiawere due to pay their last respects Wednesday to relatives among the nearly 380 victims killed in a massive stampede at a water festival in the capital. (AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy) November 24, 2010Kelly Macnamara AFPGrieving families in Cambodia were due to pay their last respects...

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Condolences From Vars' Families, Everett, WA, USA

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Fortress of solitude

via CAAIPAUL SHEEHAN - Sydney Morning Herald24/11/2010AMAZING ANGKOR: The battle between forest and stone at Ta Prohm. Among the throngs at Angkor, find peace and wonder among the temples less trampled. Siem Reap, the gateway city to Angkor, which is shorthand for the largest temple complex in the world, remains a paradise for the budget traveller. The old town bristles with all the services listed above, except for the entry pass to Angkor. Men should not be accosted with anything so gauche as street-walkers but they will be discreetly presented with an a la carte menu of prostitution options, usually by a driver: "You want 19-year-old...

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Cambodia stampede (Photos)

The coffins of Bun Ratha and his wife, Sim Ratanak, are pictured at a funeral in Kandal province. Ratha and Ratanak died at a stampede on the Diamond Gate bridge during the annual three-day Water Festival. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)At least 378 people have died in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the city is steeling itself for that number to rise. People celebrating the end of the rainy season got caught up in a stampede as they crossed a narrow bridge Monday. In panic, the crowd trampled on itself, and many fell over into the river below. Buddhist monks take part in a religious ceremony to mourn the deaths of stampede victims. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)Women...

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Cambodia stampede: 'I was in the middle. Everyone was falling'

Ben Doherty speaks to survivors of the crush that Cambodia's PM called 'the greatest tragedy in more than 31 years'Ben Doherty in Phnom Penhguardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 November 2010Police begin their investigations amid the belongings left behind by victims of the festival crush on Rainbow Bridge. Photograph: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty ImagesOn Monday night this week the streets of Phnom Penh were full, there were market stalls and music, fairground rides and partygoers crowding every available inch of space in the city.Sopheap Meng and his older brother Sovaan were on the Rainbow Bridge, a structure spanning barely 50 metres, connecting...

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Cambodia Mourns in Aftermath of Bridge Stampede

Reporters, VOA KhmerPhnom Penh Tuesday, 23 November 2010via CAAIPhoto: by Heng Reaksmey Earlier today, in Cambodia, a group of monks and officials pray for victims near the site where people stampeded during Monday's water festival in Phnom Penh.“My sister's body was blackened on the hands, chest, stomach and feet, like people had stomped on her.” The day after the largest tragedy in recent Cambodian history, hospitals were overwhelmed with family members as they searched for lost loved ones.Hospitals were lined with the bodies of the dead, with disaster authorities claiming they had so far only identified 60 percent of the victims.Bodies...

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Cause of Deadly Crowd Panic Unclear, Authorities Say

Heng Reaksmey, VOA KhmerPhnom Penh Monday, 22 November 2010via CAAIPhoto: Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer Victims of a deadly stampede are carried onto a rescue truck in Phnom Penh, in what Cambodian Prime Minister calls the country's "worst tragedy" since the Khmer Rouge period."The killing of Cambodian people this time is a second tragedy after Khmer Rouge regime." The spark that caused the deadly panic in crowds Monday night at the conclusion of Cambodia’s largest annual festival remained unclear Tuesday morning, authorities told VOA Khmer.A stampede at the conclusion of the three-day Water Festival killed at least 345 people and injured...

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Cambodia stampede kills 375 and leaves government seeking answers

via CAAI'We need to draw lessons from it,' says the government spokesman. A special investigative committee has been tasked with finding the cause of the deadly Cambodia stampede. Cambodian police officers stand behind a barricade at the site where people stampeded during a water festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 23. Heng Sinith/APBy Julie Masis, Correspondent, Stephen Kurczy, Staff Writer November 23, 2010 Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and Boston A day after a Cambodia stampede killed at least 375 people and injured more than 750, a pall fell over the capital as a national day of mourning shuttered schools and businesses and a difficult...

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