Australian Female Kristy Anne Blackney Found Dead in Kampot River By Owner of Arcadia Backpackers

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Re: Australian Female Kristy Anne Blackney Found Dead in Kampot River By Owner of Arcadia Backpackers

Post by mammothboy2 »

If - as seems possible - there IS a semi-official revised (or fabricated) narrative, wouldn't it
be best and kindest for all concerned to accept the "drowned in a flash flood" version, to assuage
the distress of the young woman's family and friends?
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Re: Australian Female Kristy Anne Blackney Found Dead in Kampot River By Owner of Arcadia Backpackers

Post by Cam Nivag »

No, if this is a non-drowning death it would be best to find out the truth and try to prevent something bad from happening to the next young lady who checks into Arcadia. The family should hire former Australian detective jim McCabe to investigate it, if he has time and if he does that sort of thing.
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Re: Australian Female Kristy Anne Blackney Found Dead in Kampot River By Owner of Arcadia Backpackers

Post by Username Taken »

Now that they have raised $23K+ to repatriate her body, I wonder if an autopsy will be carried out in Oz. That would settle it!
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Re: Australian Female Kristy Anne Blackney Found Dead in Kampot River By Owner of Arcadia Backpackers

Post by Cam Nivag »

Good question. Don't the Cambodians embalm or otherwise mess with the bodies before shipping them abroad? Does that prevent an autopsy from being done?
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Re: Australian Female Kristy Anne Blackney Found Dead in Kampot River By Owner of Arcadia Backpackers

Post by timmydownawell »

Cam Nivag wrote:Good question. Don't the Cambodians embalm or otherwise mess with the bodies before shipping them abroad? Does that prevent an autopsy from being done?
I thought so too, but Dr Google says they can perform autopsies on embalmed bodies. And the friends and family understandably want to know what happened so that's presumably why they want to ship her body back to AU.
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Re: Australian Female Kristy Anne Blackney Found Dead in Kampot River By Owner of Arcadia Backpackers

Post by Cam Nivag »

Many loved ones want bodies shipped back for the "Christian burial" without regard for performing an autopsy.
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Re: Australian Female Kristy Anne Blackney Found Dead in Kampot River By Owner of Arcadia Backpackers

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

The Age this morning was still reporting a possible flash flood as cause. Ruled out now surely ? We would have heard if that was the case.
August 23 2016 - 10:46AM
The 24-year-old's trip turned into tragedy on Saturday when she drowned in a river next to the isolated hostel where she was staying near Kampot, in Cambodia's south. Her body was found the next day.

Ms Mcnally has been told Ms Blackney was travelling with a friend but was on a night swim alone, unaware of the danger of flash flooding.

"She was just a free spirit, she would do something like that," Ms Mcnally said. "She probably wouldn't have thought that anything would happen."

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to Ms Blackney's family. It is believed the woman's father and brother are on their way to Cambodia.

Ms Blackney's death brought to 108 the number of foreigners who have died from various causes in Cambodia so far this year, eight of them Australians.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/cambo ... qyq7w.html
RIP to Ms Blackney, and thoughts to the members of her family who are reportedly on their way to Cambodia.
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Re: Australian Female Kristy Anne Blackney Found Dead in Kampot River By Owner of Arcadia Backpackers

Post by John Bingham »

timmydownawell wrote: I thought so too, but Dr Google says they can perform autopsies on embalmed bodies.
It might sometimes be possible but it is far from being ideal because a lot of evidence can be lost.
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Re: Australian Female Kristy Anne Blackney Found Dead in Kampot River By Owner of Arcadia Backpackers

Post by willyhilly »

This was quite big news in Australia yesterday, my son told me about it last night. One always feel sorry for the family but an open discussion is for the best, especially has this guesthouse has reputation for drunken partying. And of course there was the alleged rape there previously.
Third world countries and their media have a different approach to death than us and it's not going to change.
Maybe it's time young backpackers understood more about the dangers of too much booze and drugs while staying in shitty guesthouses on muddy river banks. Publicity about this victim might save another life, but after seeing footage of the huge crowds lining up in Laos to jump into that muddy river back in the day, I doubt youth will learn anything.
That river would be full of snags, remember the guy who died jumping off the bridge and hitting steel or concrete?
A few years ago a mate was in the Riverside about 4 in the morning when two Chinese men came along. One jumped into the Tonle Sap and disappeared after swimming a few meters. That was the wet season as well and all sorts of vegetation and branches come down the river.
As for the girl living in Toorak, she might have been living in a train station or park or under a bridge.I saw the tents and swags in a Sydney train station the other day, dozens of people living rough in just one spot.
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Re: Australian Female Kristy Anne Blackney Found Dead in Kampot River By Owner of Arcadia Backpackers

Post by mammothboy2 »

This is from Wikipedia (which is often fairly accurate)

Tourist deaths and injuries

Vang Vieng's hospital recorded 27 tourist deaths in 2011 due to drowning or diving head first into rocks. Most fatalities occur on the same bar-heavy stretch of river that's less than 1 km long. In a 2012 interview with The Guardian newspaper, a senior doctor at the Vang Vieng Hospital, Dr Chit, said the overall figure is higher because "many fatalities are taken straight to Vientiane".

In early 2012, two Australian backpackers died within a month. Dr Chit said five to 10 backpackers a day arrive at the local hospital with injuries such as broken bones or infected gashes, or sickness caused by alcohol intoxication or other drugs. "There are no safety measures or supervision, no helmets," says Dr Chit. "We're not equipped to treat anything serious."

The Guardian reported that tourist deaths have brought a sense of bad karma for Laotian villagers living near the river. Today, local people avoid the river, once a part of everyday life for bathing, playing, fishing, and washing clothes. "We don't want to swim in the river any more," explains La Phengxayya, 25, a primary school teacher in Phoudindaeng, the village closest to the tubing area. "We believe there are evil spirits in the water because so many young foreigners have died."

Government crackdown

In the third quarter of 2012, the Lao government carried out a crackdown in Vang Vieng, pulling down all the riverside bars. Tubing is still going on, but in a much more controlled fashion.

One climbing instructor was reported to have said that visitors are now spending more time participating in activities such as climbing, kayaking, and mountain biking. "Vang Vieng has come back to us again… it's like it used to be", he was quoted as saying.

The Bangkok Post reported that although the number of Westerners has dropped, visitors from Japan, China, and South Korea are on the rise, making up for the loss. The changing trend posed a new problem as tourists from Asia did not favour cheap accommodation and preferred more upmarket places, the report added.
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