Bus driver in jail after officer dies

A Cambodian border police officer who also worked as a bodyguard of Svay Rieng’s provincial Governor Chieng Am was killed by a bus travelling from Vietnam on Tuesday night at a border crossing near the main Vietnam-Cambodia gate at Bavet, police said yesterday.

The passenger bus, from Vietnamese company Kumho Samco Busline, instantly killed 41-year-old police officer Kong Sochea, said Ouk Kunary, Svay Rieng’s deputy traffic police chief.

“At night, the border policeman was riding his motorbike to work, but the Vietnamese bus crashed into him. He was pronounced dead at the scene,” he said.

The driver, Houy Dam Phoung Voung, 51, was driving fast in the opposite direction of the border officer, who was making his way to work, according to Kunary. After the accident, the driver attempted to flee on foot but passengers helped arrest him.

He will be sent to court this morning to be charged.