300 die during Water Festival in Cambodia

Cambodia has declared Thursday a national day of mourning after at least 345 people were killed in a stampede in the capital Phnom Penh, BBC News reports.

Hundreds more were injured when people were crushed on a small island on the final day of the Water Festival. The stampede took place on a bridge, which eyewitnesses said had become overcrowded.

Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered an investigation into the cause of the disaster.

Hun Sen described the stampede as the "biggest tragedy" to hit Cambodia since the mass killings carried out by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.

He ordered all government ministries to fly the national flag at half-mast.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP news agency that more than 400 people had been injured.
"Most of the deaths were as a result of suffocation and internal injuries," he said.

Authorities had estimated that more than two million people would attend the three-day festival, one of the main events of the year in Cambodia.

Panic broke out after a concert on Diamond Island, which followed a boat race on the Tonle Sap river regarded as a highlight of the festivities.