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| Ethnic Vietnamese relatives pray for victims near the site where hundreds of people stampeded during a water festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith) |
By SOPHENG CHEANG
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Cambodia's prime minister said Monday that no one will be punished for last week's stampede in which at least 351 revelers died after the swaying of a suspension bridge cause mass panic.
Hun Sen said many people share responsibility for not anticipating the problems that caused the Nov. 22 tragedy but that rescue efforts were adequate and, without them, the death toll would have been higher.
"No one will receive punishment for this incident," Hun Sen said at the opening of a new government building. "We have to learn a lesson from this for solving such problems in the future."
Preliminary findings by an official investigation committee found that the natural swaying of a suspension bridge ignited fears it would collapse among an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people on the structure. In frantic efforts to escape, the crowd pressed and heaved, crushing hundreds of people and leading some to dive off the span into the water.
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