Two construction workers and a coffee seller were killed yesterday at a building site in the capital when a lift cable snapped, sending the men plummeting and causing fatal head injuries.

Several other workers were injured in the incident in Tuol Tompoung II commune, Chamkarmon district, officials said.

Meas Seurn, 20, a builder, and an unnamed coffee vendor died at the scene, while 18-year-old Van Saroeun later succumbed to his injuries at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh.

Om Sros, 22, Saroeun’s brother, who was also injured yesterday, said poverty had driven his younger brother to quit school and get a construction job. He said he had been told “the manager will give us compensation”.

A man claiming to be the manager who visited injured workers in hospital said that the lift cable had been “cut off”.

Several workers were badly injured, including 18-year-old Arth Kandor, who broke both his legs and lost an arm.

Sor Mora, head of the Labor Union Federation of Food and Services, said he had asked for the site to be shuttered for investigation.