Two people died just past midnight yesterday after a tourist bus slammed head-on into a tuk-tuk while travelling the wrong way down National Road 1 from Phnom Penh to Kandal province’s Kien Svay district.

The collision occurred at 12:30am in front of the Kdey Takoy Primary School in Meanchey district’s Veal Sbov commune, Veal Sbov deputy police chief Thou Sakhorn, who responded to the scene, said.

“The [bus] driver seemed to fall asleep for a second, causing the accident; he ran about a mile away from the scene, because he was afraid that local people would beat him, but we caught him,” Sakhorn said, declining to name the suspect. “The driver is Cambodian . . . he was sent to the Phnom Penh municipal police office the same night around 3am for legal action.”

In addition to the two of the seven tuk-tuk passengers killed – Ngam Bunthorn, a 27-year-old graphic designer and Vann Srey, a 47-year-old housewife – four other passengers and the driver were injured, Sakhorn said. The injuries ranged from minor to severe.