A traffic accident in Koh Kong province killed four people and injured 17 after a truck speeding downhill overturned on Saturday.

The truck was carrying workers employed at a Chinese electrical company.

“The vehicle drove downhill very fast and overturned when it hit the curved road, and the force threw the passengers onto the road,” Phin Phorn, a victim, said.

The accident occurred along National Road 48, about three kilometres from Koh Kong district.

The truck had also been carrying equipment, wires, machinery and milled rice. The driver fled the scene soon after the accident.

Four men were killed instantly, while eight seriously injured men were sent to Calmette and Khmer-Soviet Friendship hospitals in Phnom PenhThe others were treated in Koh Kong, Men Sareth, the administrative director at Koh Kong’s provincial hospital, said.

“According to an eyewitness, all the passengers and the driver would have plunged into a valley if the vehicle had driven forward for another 10 metres,” Sareth said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Sarom at [email protected]