8 killed as lorry crashes into car in northwestern Cambodia

Eight Cambodian people were killed in a collision between a lorry and a Highlander-branded car on Friday evening in Pursat province, northwestern Cambodia, a local police officer confirmed Saturday.
The accident occurred on National Road No. 5 in Krokor district when a lorry's front tire exploded and it swerved to collided head- on with the car, Em Run, acting police chief of Krokor district, said.
"Seven adults, including two women, were killed on the spot, while a 10-year-old girl died just an hour after being sent to hospital," he told Xinhua over telephone, adding that all the victims, who were relatives, were in the Highlander vehicle.
"The lorry's driver escaped the scene after the accident," he said.
Road accident has become the No. 1 killer in Cambodia, from which the death toll is higher than that of HIV/AIDS and mine accident.
Some 1,170 people had been killed in road accidents in the first six months of this year, up 11 percent year on year, according to a report by the Interior Ministry's public order department.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport estimated that road accidents cost the country about 300 million U.S. dollars a year.