Cambodia School Bus Crash Kills Five Girls, Injures 21

Five schoolgirls died on Tuesday morning in Cambodia when a bus carrying them to school veered off the road and plunged into a pond in Kandal province, about 25 miles north of the capital, Phnom Penh, according to local police.

The provincial police reported on Facebook that witnesses saw a motorcycle suddenly cross in front of the fast-moving bus, forcing the driver to brake sharply. The vehicle then skidded off the road and into the water. Video shared on social media showed the bus partially submerged just a few feet from the shore, but deep enough to make escape difficult.

There were 26 students on the bus, aged 12 to 14. In addition to the five girls who died, three others were critically injured and 18 sustained minor injuries, police said. Villagers rushed to the scene and helped pull children from the water, with some rescuers performing CPR on those they retrieved, according to Sun Kunthy, a local who assisted in the rescue.

Nov Sokhon, chief traffic police of Khsach Kandal district, confirmed that all five girls died by drowning. He added that the death toll could have been higher if local residents had not rescued the children in time. The 31-year-old driver has been detained for questioning.

The accident highlights ongoing road safety challenges in Cambodia. A National Police report released in early November said traffic accidents across the country killed more than 1,300 people in the first 10 months of this year.