Authorities in Kampot province are searching for the driver and the owner of a truck loaded to the brim with timber that caused the collapse of a narrow steel-framed bridge early Saturday morning.
Lim Sambor, head of the province’s transportation department, said on Sunday that the 18-meter bridge in Chhuk district along National Road 43, likely buckled under the weight of the truck at about 1 a.m. on Saturday.
He said the truck and the spilled timber were cleared from the scene on Sunday but added that the bridge would take four or five days to repair.
Authorities did not know the identity of the truck owner or the driver, who fled the scene, but were searching for them to recoup the expense of repairing the bridge—expected to cost $50,000—and to fine them for overloading the vehicle.
Mr. Sambor said he did not know how much wood the truck had been loaded with, or what kind of wood it was.
But he said local residents believed the truck had come from the Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary in neighboring Kompong Speu province, where reports of illegal logging are common.
