Kampong Chhnang Provincial Governor Touch Narim passed away yesterday morning in Phnom Penh at age 57 after a long battle with illness, a provincial police official said.

Narim, an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, had been suffering from liver cancer, said Prak Vuthy, deputy chief of Kampong Chhnang provincial police.

“He has been battling liver cancer for many years,” he said yesterday. “He passed away this morning at 11am.”

Narim was appointed deputy governor in 1999 and received the top job six years later.

The late governor had received treatment in Singapore and China for his condition before his family made the decision to send him to Vietnam last month. However, doctors found that by that stage Narim’s cancer was terminal, and he was soon returned to Cambodia, the official said.

Narim’s funeral will be held at his residence in the capital’s Russey Keo district.

His position, an appointed one, will be filled by the Ministry of Interior, but no timeline has been set for that process.