One student died at the scene and eight were injured in a traffic accident on Monday morning in Khsach Kandal district’s Prek Tameak commune, Kandal.

Khsach Kandal District deputy police chief Nov Sokhorn said on November 23 the deceased is a 20-year-old male student. The eight injured are garment factory workers that include a pregnant woman and a driver assistant.

Sokhorn said the blame falls on the driver of a brick lorry who was careless.

Witnesses told police the accident happened around 6am. The worker truck was parked on a sidewalk waiting for garment factory workers when the white Hyundai lorry carrying bricks hit it. The driver of the lorry, who was identified as Chhoeun Vandy, 25, is alleged to have been driving at high speed.

The lorry then hit a student who was driving a motorbike to school, leaving him die on the spot. The driver was attempted to escape, but the locals detained him until police arrived.

Seven of the injured victims were taken to the Khsach Kandal referral hospital when the pregnant woman was sent to a hospital in Phnom Penh. Sokhorn said the driver will be sent to Kandal Provincial Court.

According to a Ministry of Interior report on traffic accidents there were 2,430 in the first nine months of 2020. That represents a decrease of 729 cases (23 per cent) comparing to the same period the year before, when 3,159 accidents occurred.

The fatality rate has also fallen. There have been 1,257 road deaths this year, drop of 264 (17 per cent) compared to the same period in 2019.

The number of injuries totalled 3,663, a decline of 1,088 (22 per cent).