Police in Oddar Meanchey province’s Samroang town arrested one man and are searching for 11 more suspected of beating up more than 20 passengers in a tractor that was returning from a Water Festival ceremony on Friday night.

Roemm Saomao, deputy chief of Oddar Meanchey’s minor crime office, said that the tractor’s passengers, including several children and old people, were wounded with batons and a samurai sword.

“Three among the victims were seriously injured, and seven others were just slightly wounded,” Saomao said.

He added that the attackers mistakenly believed that people against whom they bore a grudge were riding in the tractor when they attacked.

The one suspect who had been arrested was sent to court yesterday and charged with intentional injury, Saomao said.

“The families of the victims have demanded 30 million riel ($7,500) in compensation from the suspects,” he said.

The authorities, however, were not involved in this request, Saomao added.

To contact the reporter on this story: Phak Seangly at [email protected]