A woman from Kanhchor commune in Kratie’s Chhlong district yesterday gave birth to female triplets on her farm, though one of the babies died as she waited for hospital staff to arrive.

According her husband, Hout Sokun, Hai Kim Heat was out working on the property when she experienced labour pains, after which he called the hospital. However, he was met with a lengthy delay.

The parents were forced to deliver the babies outside in a field with help from neighbours, with the third girl reportedly stillborn before the ambulance finally arrived.

“Two babies were fine and we delivered them ourselves with the other villagers, but the last one was dead. I am so sorry for my daughter,” he said.

Sokun explained that the delivery was his wife’s fourth time in labour.

An adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, Sieng Tieng reported in July that 271 women around the country have born triplets, traditionally treated as the premier’s unofficial godchildren, since Cambodia began documenting birth statistics in 1999.