A fatal truck crash due to driver error claimed two lives on Saturday night and left eight more injured on National Road 5 in Pursat’s Krakor district.

Thet Sovathy, Ansar Chambak commune deputy police chief, identified the deceased as Nguon Ya, 25, and Say San, 53, saying that the pair died at the scene of the wreck.

According to Sovathy, all 10 people on board worked for a pepper plantation in Svay Rieng province and were transporting wooden posts to use for growing pepper.

The truck reportedly veered off a curve in the road and overturned, leaving five – including the driver – seriously injured and three slightly injured.

“The above incident was caused by the driver who was very careless,” Sovathy said.

According to Sovathy, the bodies of the two dead victims were returned to their families and the three slightly injured people were sent to Pursat Provincial Hospital.

Meanwhile, the five more-seriously injured victims were brought to Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh, Sovathy continued, adding that the crashed truck has been impounded at the Pursat provincial traffic police station.

Saturday’s accident follows a head-on truck collision that occurred on National Road 3 in Takeo province, which left five dead and one injured in the early hours of Friday morning.

As previously reported in October, the National Road Safety Committee’s goal to slash road deaths in half within five years was severely off target, with more than 2,200 deaths in 2014, representing a 15 per cent bump from the previous year.