Cambodia holds memorial ceremony for stampede victims

Cambodia’s Prime Minister led an emotional memorial ceremony yesterday at the site of a bridge stampede in the capital that killed almost 350 people in the worst national tragedy for decades.

Hun Sen, dressed in black, wiped away a tear and burnt incense at a small altar erected at the foot of the narrow bridge, now cleared of the shoes, clothing and plastic bottles that were a grim reminder of Monday’s disaster.

Officials said throngs of revellers celebrating the nation’s annual water festival apparently panicked as rumours rippled through the crowds that the bridge to an island in Phnom Penh was about to give way.

The death toll was revised down to 347 from 456 because some victims had been mistakenly included twice, the social affairs ministry said.

At the memorial ceremony, Hun Sen’s wife, Bun Rany, stood at her husband’s side and openly cried as a military band played a sombre tune. Other government officials, including Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and National Assembly President Heng Samrin, also paid their respects.

The women wore white shirts, a colour of mourning in Cambodia.

Flags were flying at half-mast at government buildings across the capital, while many schools were closed and dozens of uniformed school children carrying flowers attended the brief early morning service.

King Sihamoni did not attend the event, but his father, Norodom Sihanouk, the former monarch who is still highly revered by ­ Cambodians, sent out a public letter of condolence from Beijing, where he is receiving medical treatment. The message, which appeared in full on the front page of a local newspaper, said the event had filled him and his wife “with very profound sadness.”