Popular singer Sok Pisey sustained injuries Monday afternoon when the Lexus SUV she was driving somersaulted off the road in Koh Kong province, leading to the deaths of four passengers and injuring five more, officials said.
On her way from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville for a concert, Sok Pisey, 19, was speeding on a particularly curvy portion of National Road 4 in Kompong Seila district when she got a flat tire and lost control of the vehicle, according to district police Chief Hi Duong.
Chen Sophal, second deputy chief of O’Bakrotes commune, said Wednesday that Sok Pisey’s car rolled several times before hitting a cement fence.
He said that when he arrived on the scene shortly after the crash, three passengers were already dead, and he immediately called an ambulance for the injured.
“She did not crash into any other car, but hurt herself and injured and killed her family members,” he said.
Hi Duong said that the three who died at the scene were Rous Cheng Hourt, 68, Rous Sokmeun, 65, and Rous Soktheary, 45, while Sok Pisey’s sister, 10-year-old Sok Lina, died later Monday at Calmette hospital. All nine passengers were members of the singer’s family, he said.
Speaking outside the singer’s room at Calmette on Wednesday morning, Sok Pisey’s father Sok Heng, 48, said his daughter had badly injured her face in the crash but was recovering well.
“She is now very well, not too bad, but I do not want journalists to interview her, and I do not want her to know how many deaths and injuries there were in the accident because it will make her sad,” he said.
A Calmette doctor who asked not to be named said Sok Pisey underwent surgery on her leg Tuesday and that she is expected to make a full recovery.
On Saturday, Khmer-language newspaper Koh Santepheap Daily published an article about the rising pop star, calling Sok Pisey the “most beautiful singer” and charting her recent ascension to fame.
