Thirteen people were injured yesterday in a four-vehicle collision in Kampong Thom after the drivers braked to inspect the damage from a minibus crash moments before.

Pit Pon, chief of the Santok district police traffic department, said the tourist minibus carrying 25 people was travelling from Phnom Penh on National Road 6 when it veered off the road and overturned.

“The incident occurred while it was raining heavily and on a curve in the road,” he said. Four other vehicles – three freight trucks and another tourist minibus – then slowed down to inspect the crashed vehicle, only to smash into each other.

“Three people are seriously injured and 10 people have minor injuries,” Pon said. “Fortunately, no one died at the scene.”

The injured were all sent to hospital, with the serious cases treated for head injuries and a broken arm.

Pon said the tourist minibus that had crashed first was Vietnamese-owned and he did not know the name of the company.

The number of road traffic deaths in Cambodia dropped during the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2015, according to the Ministry of Interior.

Police reported that during the first half of 2016, a total of 919 people died in road accidents – 100 fewer fatalities than last year.