A stampede that killed 456 people in Cambodia was sparked by the swaying of a bridge, investigators said today in a report that failed to address broader questions facing the government over the deaths.
The preliminary government report, broadcast on media, echoed comments made a day earlier by government spokesman Phay Siphan who said the bridge was designed to sway, but the movement took pedestrians by surprise and some shouted it was broken.
The death toll rose to 456 from 375 yesterday with hundreds injured from Monday night's chaotic exodus of thousands of people along the narrow Diamond Gate bridge in the capital Phom Penh.
The disaster has raised plenty of questions - from why so many people were allowed to enter such a confined space on a small, man-made island to how authorities handled crowds.
Critics have pointed fingers at developers who built the bridge, city authorities organising the festival and security forces. But they say ultimately the buck stops with the government of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen.
The disaster, however, is unlikely to spiral into political damage for Mr Hun Sen, a strongman whose blend of populism and cronyism has kept him in office for a quarter of a century.
Mr Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) has a big parliamentary majority, and his powerful connections among the business elite, the judiciary and the security forces.
Rights groups accuse the CPP of using the judiciary to silence its political opponents, especially the main opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), named after a leader who lives in self-exile in France, avoiding jail sentences of a combined 12 years for forgery, disinformation and criminal damage, charges he says were politically motivated to intimidate his party.
Experts say the government's virtual monopoly on power and its connections will mean, while some heads might roll, senior city and police officials, or those involved in the construction of bridge are not likely to face prosecution.
Hours after the stampede, Mr Hun Sen apologised to the country for what he said was Cambodia's biggest tragedy since the era of the Khmer Rouge regime three decades ago. But he has kept a low profile since, a move that in most other countries would have attracted a hail of public criticism.
Reuters