PHNOM PENH - RESCUE workers have recovered the bodies of five Singaporean men who were killed in a dragon boat accident during Cambodia's annual water festival, police said on Sunday.

The boat carrying 22 men capsized late Friday as it tried to dock on Phnom Penh's Tonle Sap river after competing in a race during the festival.

More than 200 Cambodian navy sailors and fishermen, joined by seven divers and a medic from Singapore, scoured the river over the weekend searching for the five.

Seventeen Singaporeans were also injured in the accident, which happened on the first day of races. Millions of spectators, holiday-makers and participants flock to the capital Phnom Penh to watch the event.

Nhim Vanda, from Cambodia's National Committee for Disaster Management, said the tragedy occurred because of currents in the river.

'There was a very strong whirlpool around the port area they were returning to, and it hit the boat,' he said, adding that the men were not wearing life jackets.

Singapore's foreign ministry named the victims as Chee Wei Cheng, Jeremy Goh Tze Xiong, Stephen Loh Soon Ann, Reuben Kee En Rui and Poh Boon San, and said the bodies would be repatriated to Singapore.

It said in an earlier statement that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had written to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to convey his 'shock and sadness'.

Relatives of the dead visited the site of the accident late Saturday, with most unable to hold the tears back as they silently surveyed the river where their loved ones had been swept away.

More than 440 boats, including a number of foreign crews, entered this year's races, which end Sunday evening. Ten nations in Southeast Asia have boats competing in the colourful event.

Accidents are common during the boat races, which involve long, thin 'dragon boats' crewed by as many as 70 rowers, which compete against each other in the sometimes choppy waters in front of Phnom Penh's royal palace. -- AFP

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