A pickup truck struck a motorbike and then collided with a border official’s sedan in remote Preah Vihear province on Thursday night, killing four people—including a 1-year-old girl—and injuring five others, police said on Friday.
Barreling down the ill-lit National Road 69B at about 9 p.m., the Toyota Tacoma rear-ended a soldier on a Honda Wave, pushing the man and his motorbike some 60 meters down the road, then crashed into a Toyota Camry heading in the opposite direction, according to provincial police chief Sy Kiri.
The truck had been heading south from Choam Ksan district’s Sra Em commune, a heavily militarized area south of the disputed Preah Vihear Temple, toward the provincial capital, Brigadier General Kiri said.
The Camry flipped over on the side of the highway, he said, killing the driver, Thun Vibol, 42, a second lieutenant stationed at the An Ses border checkpoint, his wife, Luy Kimsan, 39, and their infant daughter, Hun Srey Neat. Five other passengers were seriously injured.
The soldier on the motorbike, warrant officer Soum Luch, was also killed.
“The four, including the 1-year-old, died instantly,” Brig. Gen. Kiri said, while the five passengers were hospitalized in Tbeng Meanchey district.
After the crash, the battered pickup truck sped off. A passing motorist found it about 20 minutes later, abandoned by the driver and passengers, he said.
Police used the truck’s license plates to identify the owner, said district police chief Dam Yin. “We are not sure yet whether he was the driver of the car because at one point the Tacoma was sold to someone else,” he said.
