Two separate car crashes on Friday evening left 10 people dead and five critically injured in Battambang and Kompong Cham provinces, police officials said on Sunday.
In Battambang’s Mong Russei district, a three-vehicle collision between a tractor, the car of a two-star police general, and a pickup truck carrying two high-ranking Interior Ministry officials and a villager left all three in the truck dead, said Moek Heng, Battambang provincial traffic police chief.
At 6:50 pm on Friday, General Heng Hak was involved in a collision with a tractor driven by villager Dos Saroeun, 30, Moek Heng said.
The pickup truck, carrying Huy Kivatanak, 54, head of the Interior Ministry’s Administration Department and driven at high speed by his deputy, Eim Chhoy, 35, then plowed into the first two vehicles and rolled off the road into a canal, he said.
The pair died instantly, along with a third person in the vehicle, Kakos commune villager Nheim Mom, 30, according to Moek Heng.
An investigation by his department has found that their truck was speeding, he added.
“We are very sorry that our two police officials died by sinking into the water with their vehicle,” said Moek Heng.
The pair were in Battambang for the inauguration of a provincial government building by Prime Minister Hun Sen the following day, he said.
Heng Hak was not injured, while Dos Saroeun is being treated for critical injuries at Battambang provincial hospital, Moek Heng said.
In Kompong Cham on Friday evening, an overloaded pickup truck went off the road, killing seven passengers, said Keo Samneang, Memot district deputy police chief.
He said police suspected the driver of the pickup truck, which was carrying 14 passengers and various goods from Mondolkiri province, had fallen asleep at the wheel and lost control of his vehicle.
The passengers killed included one person from Prey Veng province, two from Kompong Speu province and four from Kompong Cham province, said Keo Samneang.
