Government authorities and the opposition party yesterday held religious ceremonies to mark the sixth anniversary of the stampede that killed 353 people during the 2010 Water Festival.

At a stupa near the site dedicated to the victims, Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong acknowledged poor management had contributed to the tragedy, saying City Hall had endeavoured to learn from the incident to stop it from happening again.

"This case happened because of carelessness in good management," Socheatvong told about 800 people gathered to pay tribute. However, at a similar event held at the Cambodia National Rescue Party headquarters yesterday, CNRP vice president Kem Sokha slammed the fact that no one had been held accountable for the deaths.

"In other countries if such a case happened, there would be a person held responsible," said Sokha, who in 2014 drew criticism for accusing Vietnam of orchestrating the stampede.