4 crushed to death by crowd outside Cambodian tycoon’s house

Khmer Circle: 

So Vietnam takes virtually all of Cambodia and everything of value and in return once a year a Vietnamese tycoon - who had in the recent past syphoned off millions of dollars of Angkor Wat tourism revenue - throws these red evelopes on poor Khmers who risk crushing one another to death in order to receive these handouts? 

By the way, this is Vietnam-Cambodia relations in a nutshell...

^^^

Hundreds gathered in front of a businessmen’s home to receive red envelopes and rice ahead of Lunar New Year.

By RFA Khmer

2025.01.23

Emergency medical workers carrying a person to an ambulance after a crowd pushed towards the gates of a mansion of Cambodian tycoon Sok Kong to receive red envelopes filled with money, in Phnom Penh, Jan. 23, 2025. (Fresh News/AFP)

Four people were crushed to death Thursday by a crowd that gathered in front of a prominent businessmen’s house in Phnom Penh to receive red envelopes full of cash ahead of the Lunar New Year, police said.

A large crowd gathered in front of tycoon Sok Kong’s home to receive the red envelopes, a bag of rice and other gifts, Phnom Penh police spokesman Sam Vichheka told Radio Free Asia.

 

There was no organized line – just a mass of people outside the home. Five others were injured as the crowd pushed toward the gates of the large home, he said.

A crowd gathers at the mansion of Cambodian tycoon Sok Kong to receive red envelopes filled with money ahead of the Lunar New Year, Phnom Penh, Jan. 23, 2025. (Fresh News/AFP)

Sok Kong, a close ally of Senate President Hun Sen. is one of Cambodia’s wealthiest businessmen with interests in entertainment, hospitality and petroleum, according to Agence France-Presse.

The tycoon has distributed the red envelopes -– a traditional gift in Asia during the Lunar New Year holiday -– in previous years. This year, they contained about 40,000 riel (US$10), according to Facebook posts from people who were at the event.

Sok Kong announced later on Thursday that he would provide a coffin for each of the four deceased, as well as US$6,000 to the families of the victims, while the five injured would receive 4 million riel, or US$1,000.

Police were not conducting a criminal investigation into the deaths, and didn’t believe that Sok Kong was to blame for the tragedy, Sam Vichheka. The four deaths were mostly due to the victims’ poor health, he said.

“Sok Kong is a kind-hearted person who is willing to help people and the gift is his heart,” he said. “It is a health issue. It isn’t related to anything else.”

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.