Water Festival Stampede

345 dead at Water Festival stampede as panic on the bridge to Diamond Island caused many to be suffocated, trampled, electrocuted (by wires they climbed on to) and drowned. An extremely devastating event to Cambodia, described as the worst tragedy since the Pol Pot Regime.

We were on the bridge two days before walking across to Diamond Island (where there is a fair ground). At one point in the night we were trapped in the crowd, felt somewhat like a moshpit with people pushing and only after awhile did we realize small children next to us (and decided to turn around) - so we can only imagine the chaos yesterday night must have been.

We consider ourselves extremely lucky and last night we were thinking about going to Diamond Island after the Tiny Toones performance but decided not to.

Gap Year group on the bridge on Saturday night

Bridge yesterday after stampede