A head-on collision involving a tourist bus killed at least four people, including three children, and left seven with life-threatening injuries yesterday.

The Olympic Express bus was carrying about two dozen Cambodians and foreigners from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh when a Honda CRV collided with it on National Highway Number 6 in Kampong Thom province’s Stoung district at about 2 pm, said Stoung district police chief Yong Sam.

The crash occurred when the CRV driver, who was driving in the opposite direction, lost control of the car and swerved into the bus, according to Tant Sovann, the Olympic Express company’s owner’s daughter.

“The CRV driver was driving at a very fast speed,” Sovann said.

Everyone in the CRV, including three children younger than 10 and the driver, died, Sam said. The car was smashed and burned beyond recognition.

Seven people on the bus were taken to Stoung Hospital with life threatening injuries, Sam said. Two of them were Chinese nationals.

A report from the Cambodia Road Traffic and Victim Information System says transportation companies were involved in 1,966 traffic deaths last year.

Earlier this month the Ministry of Public Works and Transport warned four bus companies they would be shut down if they did not reduce the number of traffic deaths in which they are involved. Olympic Express is not one of these companies.

The bus driver escaped the accident with a broken leg, for which he was hospitalised, Sovann said. Of all the company’s driver’s he is one of their most conscientious, she added.

Olympic Express staff members are surveying the damage, but the driver said the front of the bus was heavily damaged, Sovann said.