A motorbike driver and his passenger died after colliding with a Royal Railway freight train in Takeo province on Sunday morning, officials said.
Samraong district police chief Moeung Sarun said Suong Khoun, 31, died upon impact with a Royal Railway train, which was carrying containers from Preah Sihanouk province to Phnom Penh, in the district’s Samraong commune.
Suong Khoun’s passenger and cousin, Khun Nalab, 20, was seriously injured in the accident and brought to the provincial referral hospital, but died in the afternoon after she was transferred to Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh, Mr. Sarun said.
The investigation into the accident is still ongoing.
No bystanders witnessed the crash, Mr. Sarun said, but he believes Suong Khoun was driving recklessly.
“I think he wasn’t paying attention and they were talking to each other while they were on the motorbike together,” Mr. Sarun said.
Royal Railway CEO John Guiry claimed the train conductor had responded correctly, shining the train’s headlights and blaring its horn as a warning.
“They just kept going, just drove straight into the side of the train,” Mr. Guiry said of the victims.
