A car belonging to Funcinpec Senator Nhiek Bun Chhay crashed into two motorbikes Sunday evening, killing two people, police said.
The accident happened in the Ou Bek Khorm area in Tuol Kok district, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, police said.
Asked whether Nhiek Bun Chhay was in the car, municipal traffic Police Chief Kim Yadet said, “Yes.”
“He is willing to pay compensation,” Kim Yadet said, but he did not say how much the senator would pay the victims’ families.
“Nhiek Bun Chhay’s driver ran away from the scene, ” the traffic police chief added.
Two people were dead and one seriously injured, Kim Yadet said. He did not disclose the victims’ identities and declined to say which party was at fault.
Another municipal traffic police official at police headquarters said the two dead—both motorcycle taxi drivers—were sent to Wat Preah Put in Prampii Makara district. The injured person was sent to a hospital, but the official did not know which hospital.
The official said the senator’s car, a Mitsubishi, was being kept at traffic police headquarters. He also confirmed the driver fled.
Reached by telephone Sunday night, Nhiek Bun Chhay acknowledged that the car involved in the accident was his.
But he said he was not in the car at the time of the accident. He also said the driver did not run away. “I heard that the two motorbikes drove fast between cars. They were drunk,” the senator said.
Nhiek Bun Chhay said the drivers were not motorbike taxi drivers. He did not explain how he received that information.
He said his driver was coming to pick him up in Stung Meanchey district when the accident occurred.
He ended the phone conversation, saying he was busy.
The accident comes as the World Health Organization began a road safety campaign ahead of Wednesday’s World Health Day.
(Additional reporting by Saing Soenthrith)
