Seven people were killed and 24 others injured in three separate traffic accidents involving trucks transporting gasoline for some of the country’s largest petroleum companies, officials said Tuesday.
In all three accidents, police said the drivers of the trucks were responsible.
The most recent incident occurred on Monday afternoon on National Road 5 in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district when a Sokimex Company truck hit and killed a 2-year-old boy and his mother, and injured three others—all of whom were sitting on the side of the road, said Soeun Saroeun, Phnom Penh deputy traffic police chief in the statistics department.
Police arrested the driver, whose name and age were not released, but who Mr. Saroeun said had been drunk at the time of the crash.
Earlier Monday, at about 12:30 a.m. on National Road 8 in Prey Veng province’s Pea Reang district, a Tela Co. Ltd. truck smashed into a minivan, killing three people and injuring 16 other passengers, said Mao Sameth, traffic police bureau chief in Prey Veng.
Mr. Sameth said a 24-year-old man and a 17-year old woman were killed instantly, while a 50-year-old woman died on her way to the provincial referral hospital.
Police subsequently arrested the driver, who broke his legs in the crash.
“It is the mistake of the truck driver, who turned left and hit the minivan,” he said.
The third accident occurred Sunday in Kompong Cham City whenthe driver of a truck transporting gasoline for local company Thary was speeding on National Road 7 and smashed into a motorcycle and car, said Long Meng Se, provincial traffic bureau police chief.
A 55-year-old man and 2-year-old boy who were traveling on the motorcycle died instantly, while a group of five people who were in a car were injured, Mr. Meng Se said, adding that the petroleum truck driver fled the scene.
“The truck driver broke the traffic law because he was speeding,” he said.
