Two brothers were killed instantly in the early hours of Wednesday when the car they were traveling in crashed into a tree on National Road 7 in Kratie province, officials said Thursday.
Pi Samith, 36, and Pi Vibol, 29, had been transporting a load of luxury-grade timber through the province’s Chet Borei district in heavy rain shortly after midnight when the older brother lost control of their Toyota Camry, sending it flying off the road and into a tree, according to Yiv Somantha, traffic police chief in the district’s Kantuot commune.
“They were carrying luxury wood and they tried to take a corner very fast,” Mr. Somantha said. “They died immediately because it was a very serious collision.”
Kantout commune police chief Pin Phal said he went to the scene shortly after people living in the area told him that the brothers were being chased by another vehicle at the time of the crash.
“After the accident happened, they left immediately,” he said of the other car’s occupants.
Both Mr. Somantha and Mr. Phal said they did not know whether the luxury wood had been logged illegally.
