3 fishermen feared dead in boat crash in Cambodia

Three Cambodian fishermen are missing and feared dead when their fishing boat crashed into a towboat on the sea in southwestern Preah Sihanouk province Thursday midnight, a provincial police chief confirmed Friday. The accident happened at 11:30 p.m. in the middle of the sea in the province, said Tak Vantha, police chief of Preah Sihanouk province, adding that the fishing boat had 5 fishermen onboard. "The fishing boat capsized when it crashed into a towboat which pulled six cement-loaded barges from Thailand,"he told Xinhua over telephone."Three fishermen are missing as two others were rescued when they swam for about an hour and met another fishing boat." "Even though we have not found their bodies, there is no hope that the three missing men can survive because the spot of the accident was in the middle of the sea,"he said, adding that searching operation is still going on. Darkness was blamed for the accident, he said. According to Tak Vantha, the towboat, navigated by two Thai nationals, had escaped the scene, but was arrested a few hours later by maritime security forces in nearby Koh Kong province.