A heavy iron gate in front of a deserted house fell onto two children in Kompong Thom province on Tuesday, killing a 7-year-old boy and injuring his 4-year-old neighbor, police said on Wednesday.
The boy, Mean Kor, died instantly of a serious head injury while the girl, Thoeun Mara, was rushed to a hospital in Phnom Penh after the gate fell at about 12:30 p.m., said Keo Sovan, deputy police chief in Baray district’s Triel commune, where the house is located.
No one saw the incident, but the children likely “pushed the gate past the gate stop and it fell,” Mr. Sovan said.
The gate was so heavy that it took at least six people to lift it off the children, he added.
The house is owned by the boy’s uncle, according to Mr. Sovan, but was empty because the family had moved to Thailand for work.
The girl was in stable condition on Wednesday, he said.
The boy’s parents, who also work in Thailand, were expected to return to Cambodia on Wednesday, he said, adding that no one would be charged because the death “was just an accident.”
