Cambodia water festival tragedy

Cambodia water festival tragedy ; At least 380 killed during stampede at festival, and survivors tell of desperate attempt to escape crush After the dead, the dying and the injured had been removed, the hundreds of abandoned shoes that littered Diamond Island's north bridge still served as a grim reminder of the chaos that had last night turned one of the most joyful events in the Cambodian calendar to tragedy.

The crush is thought to have started at around 10pm, on the third and final day of the festival, which is estimated to attract around a third of the country's 14m population each year to Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh. Survivors spoke of being caught up in hellish scenes with people trampling over each in their desperation to escape a crush which Cambodian authorities said had claimed the lives of at least 380 people.

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 reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge, the Telegraph reported.

Some in the crowd – who were celebrating the end of the rainy season on an island 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 on Monday night described "bodies stacked on bodies" on the bridge as rescuers swarmed the area, the source describes.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, speaking Tuesday morning, said that 345 people had been killed and more than 320 injured, the site reports. November 25 is declared a day of mourning in memory of hundreds of victims in Cambodia, the Prime Minister said.