Boat capsizes, killing 6 in Cambodia

Funeral for one of the victim

October 12, 2011

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) -- Two adults and four children were killed in a boat sinking on Wednesday morning in Siem Reap town of Siem Reap province in northwestern Cambodia, police chief said.

Tep Bunchhay, police chief of Siem Reap town, said that the machine boat carried about 15 people to attend a Buddhism ceremony in a pagoda and when the boat arrived in the middle of the way to the pagoda, there was torrential rain and wind that made the boat capsized.

"The accident occurred at around 9:00 a.m. (local time) on Wednesday at a tributary, killing six people -- three male and three female, and the rest was rescued," he told Xinhua by phone. "Besides the rain, overload also played a part in the sinking."

The victims included 61-year-old woman Sao Yab, 7-year-old girl Khoy Chea, 7-year-old girl Pet Te, 37-year-old man Nhol Sophat, 10- year-old boy Phat Pov, and 3-year-old boy Yoeut Yeth.

Cambodia has been hard-hit by the Mekong River and flash floods since Aug. 13. At least 207 people were killed and other 1.2 million people have been affected.

The floods also affected more than 300,000 hectares of rice paddies and completely destroyed other 100,000 hectares of rice paddies.

Some 180 kilometers of national roads and around 1,800 kilometers of gravel roads have been affected, according to the National Committee for Disaster Management.