Seven foreign nationals were seriously injured when a night bus and a truck crashed in Prey Veng province early yesterday morning.

The Kampuchea Angkor Express bus, carrying 34 passengers, was travelling from Siem Reap to Vietnam when it crashed in Peamro district at about 4:10am.

District police chief Seng Ponlok said the double-decker bus hit a truck carrying bags of corn parked beside the road – causing serious injuries to three Spanish nationals and four South Koreans.

Another 27 passengers sustained light injuries. Five of the seriously injured passengers were women.

“We have to investigate this accident to see why it happened like this, but the unofficial conclusion is that we think that it was caused by the driver being sleepy,” said Seng Ponlok.

“He could not control himself anymore – that’s why he moved the bus to hit the lorry.”

Provincial police officials helped send the injured to referral hospitals and an undisclosed hospital in Phnom Penh, he said.

Both vehicles have been taken to Peamro district police station to aid an investigation.

“We will investigate this accident by cooperating with the bus company and we will also cooperate with them to look for the driver, who escaped after accident,” said Seng Ponlok.

Kampuchea Angkor Express officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The collision is the latest in a series of bus accidents to take place in the Kingdom.

In May, 35 people were injured when a night bus travelling from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap crashed into a rice truck. Two died when an Angkor Express bus transiting from Laos to Phnom Penh struck a motorbike carrying two men in Stung Treng town in early June.

A Paramount bus allso exploded in Kampong Thom province a week prior to that incident.