Six Cambodians were killed in Thailand early yesterday when the pick-up truck in which they travelled struck a foundation pillar of a bridge in Chon Buri, Thai police said.

Three men and three women were killed and four others were seriously injured, police officer Pornchai Paksiritham said.

Thai police suspected that the victims had been smuggled illegally across the border into Thailand for work. The driver of the truck was Thai.

Cambodian authorities said they were investigating the incident but had little information with which to work.

“We have no details of the incident in Chon Buri province,” said Neth Sary, a Cambodian consular official in Thailand. “But Cambodian officials are working on this matter.”

Last month, four of seven Cambodian workers killed in an accident on a construction site in Thailand had crossed the border illegally to work. The workers were among more than 200 Cambodians working for the Italian-Thai Development company on a hospital expansion.

BANGKOK POST AND KHOUN LEAKHANA