On Thursday, the court also sentenced Moek Dara’s aide Chea Leng to life in prison on the same charges. Former anti-drug officer Morn Deurn, who is in hiding, was sentenced in absentia to 25 years.

The court, located about 190 miles (300 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh, fined the trio nearly a half million dollars — the amount the court said they took in bribes.

Cambodia has ramped up its war on drugs the past few years, resulting in hundreds of arrests, some involving high-profile officials.

Cambodia is not a major producer of illegal drugs but has increasingly become a smuggling transit route for narcotics, particularly methamphetamine and heroin, since neighboring Thailand started a crackdown on drugs in 2003.

Ambulances raced back and forth between the river and the hospitals for several hours after the stampede. Calmette Hospital, the capital’s main medical facility, was filled to capacity with bodies as well as patients, some of whom had to be treated in hallways. Many of the injured appeared to be badly hurt, raising the prospect that the death toll could rise as local hospitals became overwhelmed.

Hours after the chaos, the dead and injured were still being taken away from the scene, while searchers looked for bodies of anyone who might have drowned. An Associated Press reporter saw one body floating in the river, and hundreds of shoes left behind on and around the bridge.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, speaking Tuesday morning, said that 345 people had been killed and more than 320 injured.

“This is the biggest tragedy we have experienced in the last 31 years, since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime,” he said, referring to the ultra-communist movement whose radical policies are blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people during the 1970s.

He ordered an investigation into the cause of the stampede and declared Thursday would be a national day of mourning. Government ministries were ordered to fly the flag at half-staff. He said that the government would pay the families of each dead victim 5 million riel ($1,250) for funeral expenses and provide 1 million riel ($250) for each injured person.

Authorities had estimated that upward of 2 million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day water festival, the Bon Om Touk, which marks the end of the rainy season and whose main attraction is traditional boat races along the river. In this year’s event, 420 of the long, sleek boats competed, with crews of up to 80 racers each.

The last race ended early Monday evening, the last night of the holiday, and the panic started later on Koh Pich — Diamond Island — a long spit of land wedged in a fork in the river where a concert and exhibition were being held. It was unclear how many people were on the island to celebrate the holiday, though the area appeared to be packed with people, as were the banks.

Soft drink vendor So Cheata said the trouble began when about 10 people fell unconscious in the press of the crowd. She said that set off a panic, which then turned into a stampede, with many people caught underfoot.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith gave a similar account of the cause.

Seeking to escape the island, part of the crowd pushed onto a bridge, which also jammed up, with people falling under others and into the water. So Cheata said hundreds of hurt people lay on the ground afterward. Many appeared to be unconscious.

Philip Heijmans, a 27-year-old photographer from Brooklyn, New York, who arrived at the scene half-an-hour after the stampede, walked up the bridge to see hundreds of shoes and pieces of clothing, then a body, then more “bodies stacked on bodies.”

He counted about 40 in all, with about 200 rescuers in the area. Some Australian firefighters were on the scene– it wasn’t clear why they were in town — who were checking pulses before loading bodies into vans.

Cambodia is one of the region’s poorer countries, and has an underdeveloped health system, with hospitals barely able to cope with daily medical demands. Hun Sen called on foreign investors and tourists not to shun the country because of the accident.

Koh Pich used to host a slum community, but in recent years the poor have been evicted to make way for high-rise and commercial development, most yet to be realized.

Hours after the chaos, the dead and injured were still being taken away from the scene, while searchers looked for bodies of anyone who might have drowned. An Associated Press reporter saw one body floating in the river, and hundreds of shoes left behind on and around the bridge.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, in the third of three post-midnight live television broadcasts, said that 339 people had been killed and 329 injured. He described the chaos as the “biggest tragedy” to strike his country since the communist Khmer Rouge ruled in a reign of terror in the 1970s, and ordered an investigation.

Hun Sen declared Thursday would be a national day of mourning, and ordered all government ministries to fly the flag at half-staff.

Authorities had estimated that upward of 2 million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day water festival, which marks the end of the rainy season and whose main attraction is traditional boat races along the river.

The last race ended early Monday evening, the last night of the holiday, and the panic started later on Koh Pich — Diamond Island — a long spit of land wedged in a fork in the river where a concert was being held. It was unclear how many people were on the island to celebrate the holiday, though the area appeared to be packed with people, as were the banks.

Soft drink vendor So Cheata said the trouble began when about 10 people fell unconscious in the press of the crowd. She said that set off a panic, which then turned into a stampede, with many people caught underfoot.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith gave a similar account of the cause.

Seeking to escape the island, part of the crowd pushed onto a bridge, which also jammed up, with people falling under others and into the water. So Cheata said hundreds of hurt people lay on the ground afterward. Many appeared to be unconscious.

Cambodia is one of the region’s poorer countries, and has an underdeveloped health system, with hospitals barely able to cope with daily medical demands.

Koh Pich used to host a slum community, but in recent years the poor have been evicted to make way for high-rise and commercial development, most yet to be realized.

Hours after the chaos, hundreds of shoes still lay on the bridge over the Tonle Sap river and the area underneath. Searchers looked for bodies of anyone who might have drowned, and an AP reporter saw one body floating in the river.

Prime Minister Hun Sen made two live television broadcasts after midnight, giving a preliminary death toll of 181 that he later increased to 190. The website of the newspaper Kampuchea Thmey cited Gen. Sao Sokha, chief of the military police, as saying the death toll could be close to 300, according to information from four hospitals to which bodies were taken.

Authorities had estimated that upward of 2 million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day water festival, which marks the end of the rainy season and whose main attraction is traditional boat races along the river.

The last race ended early Monday evening, the last night of the holiday, and the panic started later on Koh Pich — Diamond Island — a long spit of land wedged in a fork in the river where a concert was being held. It was unclear how many people were on the island to celebrate the holiday, though the area appeared to be packed with people, as were the banks.

Soft drink vendor So Cheata said the trouble began when about 10 people fell unconscious in the press of the crowd. She said that set off a panic, which then turned into a stampede, with many people caught underfoot.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith gave a similar account of the cause.

Seeking to escape the island, part of the crowd pushed onto a bridge, which also jammed up, with people falling under others and into the water. So Cheata said hundreds of hurt people lay on the ground afterward. Some appeared to be unconscious.

Cambodia is one of the region’s poorer countries, and has an underdeveloped health system, with hospitals barely able to cope with daily medical demands.

Koh Pich used to host a slum community, but in recent years the poor have been evicted to make way for high-rise and commercial development, most yet to be realized.

An employee of Calmette Hospital, where most of the casualties were being taken, said earlier that it had received 17 bodies, and an Associated Press reporter later saw an army truck bring another five. The hospital employee spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said he did not have complete figures but that at least 10 people had died in the chaos.

Authorities had estimated that upward of 2 million people would descend on Phnom Penh for the three-day water festival, which marks the end of the rainy season and whose main attraction is traditional boat races along the Tonle Sap river. Monday night marked the end of the holiday.

The last race ended in early evening, and the panic started later on Koh Pich — Diamond Island — a long spit of land in the river where a concert was being held. It was unclear how many people were on the island to celebrate the holiday, though the area appeared to be packed with people, as was much of the waterfront.

Soft drink vendor So Cheata said the trouble began when about 10 people fell unconscious in the press of the crowd. She said that set off a panic, which then turned into a stampede, with many people caught underfoot.

Khieu Kanharith gave a similar account of the cause.

Part of the crowd pushed onto a bridge, which also jammed up, with people falling under others and off the bridge. So Cheata said hundreds of hurt people lay on the ground afterward. Some appeared to be unconscious.

Police and other officials were unable to immediately provide more details, saying they were too busy attending to the injured.

Cambodia is one of the region’s poorer countries, and has an underdeveloped health system, with hospitals barely able to cope with daily medical demands.