A 15-year-old student was run over and killed by a Cintri garbage truck in the capital’s Prampi Makara district on Monday after the motorbike on which he was a passenger skidded during an attempt to overtake the truck, throwing him from the bike and under the tyres of the larger vehicle.

Phnom Penh traffic police chief Tin Vansy said that CCTV footage showed that 18-year-old Pich Bunkhean – who was giving victim Sokunthea Rith, 15, a ride home from school – had tried to pass the trash-collection truck on a narrow one-way street. After Rith was thrown from the bike, it hurtled ahead before running into a car.

“The truck ran over Rith’s head, causing him to die immediately,” Vansy said, adding that Bunkhean only sustained slight injuries. “According to the surveillance camera . . . the death and injury are not the mistake of the Cintri driver.”

However, Vansay said that 26-year-old truck driver Sorn Ran was arrested and will be questioned today at municipal court all the same.

“Cintri offered the victim’s family $3,500 to prepare for the funeral,” he added.