Clinic Owner Questioned Over Fatal Crash

Police and health officials have questioned the owner of a Phnom Penh health clinic they suspect of operating an ambulance whose driver killed three people on Saturday night before fleeing the scene, officials said Monday.

Tin Vansy, deputy municipal traffic police chief, said the officials believed the vehicle belonged to the Khim Rany Clinic and Maternity in Tuol Kok district’s Boeng Kak I commune, and questioned the clinic’s  owner on Sunday.

“We suspect that the vehicle belongs to the clinic because it looks like the vehicles from the clinic that we used to see every day, while the ambulances from other clinics look different,” he said.

Mr. Vansy said commune police told him that the clinic operated four ambulances, three of which had no license plates or emblems—like the one involved in the crash.

The ambulance collided with a family of four that had been driving on two motorbikes, killing

the mother, Kin Sareoun; father, Hong Sora; and their son, Hong Troap, while injuring their daughter, Hong Tuka, according to Seng Chanthorn, chief of the municipal traffic police’s accident investigation office.

Police said Monday that they unlocked the ambulance, which had been impounded at the municipal traffic police headquarters, and found an empty beer can but no other evidence to aid in their search for the runaway driver.

Mr. Vansy said his officials went to the Khim Rany clinic on Sunday afternoon to question the owner, who said the clinic had only one ambulance and that it was not the one that crashed.

“We visited the clinic, but [the owner] denied that the ambulance belongs to it,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Health was also investigating the case.

“Officials from the Health Ministry cooperated with us and visited the clinic this morning because they issue licenses for this type of business, but it has not given us an update yet,” he said.

The owner of the Khim Rany clinic could not be reached.

sothear@cambodiadaily.com

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