Cambodia remembers stampede victims one year on

Hundreds of tearful relatives burned incense and made offerings of flowers, fruit and food Tuesday at a new memorial in Cambodia honouring 353 people who died in a bridge stampede one year ago.

An annual water festival ended in tragedy last year when crowds panicked on the narrow crossing leading to Phnom Penh's Diamond Island, one of the main event sites.

"I feel fearful seeing this bridge," an emotional Tith Sam Ath, 40, whose 12-year-old son died in the disaster, told AFP.

"I still miss my son every day. He was an outstanding student," she said, as Buddhist monks chanted and blessed the memorial, which carries the names of those who perished nearby.

Veng Sdeung, whose 24-year-old daughter was also killed in the incident, welcomed the memorial next to the bridge.

"I am glad that this memorial is made for my daughter. I came here to dedicate this to her soul," she said.

"This is my first time to see this bridge. I am crying seeing this bridge. I miss my daughter."

Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuk Tema, who attended the religious ceremony along with senior government officials, said the government would mark the anniversary every year.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said shortly after the incident that no officials would be punished over the stampede, which he called "a joint mistake".

Hun Sen has described the stampede as Cambodia's worst tragedy since the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 reign of terror, which killed up to a quarter of the population.

A government inquiry found the crush began when rumours spread through the packed crowd that the eight-metre (26 foot) wide, 100-metre-long bridge was unstable.

But a local rights group, the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, has called for a fresh investigation into the tragedy, saying the government findings were "vague and inconclusive".

"Questions remain unanswered, such as: what caused the panic and crush on the bridge? What health and safety measures were in place for the festival, and particularly surrounding the bridge? Were people electrocuted?" the group said in a statement.

The annual festival, which marks the reversal of the flow between the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers, usually draws millions of visitors to the capital to enjoy dragon boat races, fireworks and concerts.

But this year's event was cancelled after the government said the money would be better spent helping the victims of recent flooding, the country's worst in more than a decade.

Cambodia's deadliest floods since 2000, triggered by heavy rains, have killed at least 247 people and destroyed nearly a tenth of the nation's rice paddy.