A 19-year-old man dropped dead in Kompong Speu province on Wednesday night as he and his friends fled an altercation at a wedding party in Samraong Tong district with a gang of youths in pursuit, police said Thursday.
Prach Sann’s body was found at about 10 p.m. on a road just 200 meters from the wedding marquee in Sen Dei commune, according to commune police chief Kouy Vanthan. He added that the teenager was not involved in the argument that broke out on the dance floor.
“He just ran away terrified and became exhausted and fell down dead,” he said.
A provincial coroner’s committee ruled that the teenager died of natural causes resulting from a hole in his heart, a congenital heart defect that is a leading cause of death in young adults, according to Kong Buny, the doctor who carried out the examination of the body.
“There were no bruises on his body but he was born with a heart disease and the hole had not closed [and] he was weak and in distress,” he said. “He died because he was terrified.”
