More than 70 garment workers were injured yesterday in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet town when the open truck in which they were travelling crashed into a container truck.

The collision – a seemingly daily occurrence of late – occurred at 8am yesterday outside Bavet, seriously injuring seven workers, according to a Labour Ministry release. The statement identified Neang Odom, 27, as the driver of the truck, but local authorities said he fled the scene after the crash.

Bavet deputy police chief Chea Sina said Odom was attempting to overtake a container truck, but while trying to avoid oncoming traffic, crashed into its side.

“We intervened and sent the injured to hospital, and the truck is being held at the police station,” Sina said.

After the incident, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers Pav Sina said that while the frequency of garment worker accidents was increasing, little action was being taken.

Him Yan, director of the Ministry of Interior’s department of road traffic, said the recent spate of crashes had been discussed at a meeting on Tuesday and that provincial officials had been instructed to tighten their enforcement of the law.

“We urged them to take more action to find these drivers and to educate drivers about the Traffic Law,” he said.

Separately, the government released road crash statistics for the first 10 months of the year on Tuesday, which showed collisions falling to 3,001 incidents, down from 3,418 during the same period last year.