At least 20 garment workers were injured yesterday in Takeo province’s Tram Kak district, a day after an agricultural worker was killed in a similar road accident.
The Takeo incident occurred yesterday morning as workers were being driven to their factories. Police reports said the truck was hit by a concrete mixer, during a failed attempt to overtake a car, throwing several of the workers from the vehicle.
Deputy district police chief Cheal Phat said the driver, Hem Vuthy, had been briefly detained but was let go after agreeing to pay the victims 2 million riel, about $500, in compensation. “The concrete truck driver was at fault. Both sides agreed to the compensation and then the garment workers were taken for medical treatment,” Phat said.
The National Social Security Fund reported that they would cover the medical costs of the workers, who were being treated at a local clinic and the provincial hospital.
Injured worker Chhem Pov said that despite hearing of multiple truck accidents, she had no option but to use such transportation as she lived far from her workplace. “I am slightly injured, but luckily no one died,” she said.
In a separate incident, a truck laden with cassava and 19 agricultural workers overturned on Tuesday afternoon as it tried to avoid a pothole while passing through Romeas Hek district’s Koki commune.
Deputy traffic police chief So Sophal said 48-year old Dol Sophal died after landing in a ditch filled with water and was trapped under cassava, causing her to drown.
“Other workers jumped out of the truck, therefore they did not get injured,” Sophal said. “They found her body under the water, buried by that cassava.”
He added that the driver had fled and that the case was being sent to the provincial court.
