KOEUN Sotharaneth, the 16-year-old son of a general in the National Police, has been charged with manslaughter after he killed three people in a car accident in Kandal province on Friday night.

Ouk Kimseth, a prosecutor at Kandal provincial court, said the boy was charged on Saturday and was in detention awaiting trial.

Police said the teenager was speeding along Street 21A in Takhmao town on Friday evening when he lost control of his vehicle and hit three people who were driving their motorbikes along the side of the road.

Iv Chamroeun, the provincial chief of police, said the three victims – Mao Tharith, 54, Chea Heng, 50, and Chea Eng, 51, all of Chong Koh village in Takhmao – were killed immediately.

After the accident, police took Koeun Sotharaneth to the provincial police station for further questioning. The boy’s 23-year-old bodyguard was also taken in for questioning, but was released the same night.

Meas Chanby from Handicap International Belgium said yesterday that 682 people were killed in car accidents in the first four months of 2010, about the same figure as in 2009. He said statistics for the rest of the year had not yet been compiled.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DENISE HRUBY