Oil Tanker Crash, Explosion Kill 1, Injure 3

A fuel tanker truck belonging to Shell Oil collided with a transport truck Wednesday on Nation­al Road 4, killing one person and injuring three others.

Kompong Speu Provincial police said Thursday that the Phnom Penh-bound tanker and the Sihanoukville-bound truck collided a few kilometers from Kompong Speu town at about 2 pm.

The trucks exploded on im­pact, killing one of two occupants in the Shell truck and injuring the driver and passenger of the other vehicle who managed to escape the flames, said police Chief Men Sivann.

The three injured were taken to Calmette Hospital. Information on their condition was unavailable Thursday.

It took 10 hours to extinguish the blaze, and traffic was snarled for hours along the highway, Kom­pong Speu Military Police Chief Khim Sann said. Police are still investigating the cause of the crash.

Men Sivann said the crash oc­curred when a tire on one of the trucks blew out, causing the driver to lose control. It is still un­clear, however, which truck had the blowout. According to police, eyewitnesses could not agree. Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper reported Thursday that the blowout occurred on the Shell truck.

Shell officials were unavailable for comment Thursday.

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