At least six people died and another 13 were injured when a truck overloaded with people and cassava flipped over in Kratie province’s Snuol district yesterday.

Carrying 60 tons of cassava and 30 workers, who planned on selling the crop in Vietnam, the truck crashed on a small, pothole-strewn road about 20 kilometres from National Road 7, Snuol district Police Chief Chan Sokin said.

“When our police arrived, we found six victims dead at the scene and 13 others suffering serious and minor injuries,” Sokin said. “Eleven others were still buried under the cassava piles.”

Police helped those trapped under cassava out before delivering the dead bodies to relatives in Kampong Cham’s Ponhea Krek district, Sokin said. The 13 injured were taken to Kampong Cham’s provincial hospital.

The truck crashed because it was carrying a load too large for the narrow road, said Som Narak, police chief of Snuol district’s Sre Cha commune.