Officials from the Kampot Forestry Administration and the provincial department of public works and transport are looking for the driver of an overloaded timber truck who fled the scene after he destroyed a bridge on Friday night in the Chhouk district.

The bridge was broken at Taken commune at about midnight due to the truck being overloaded, said Kampot provincial police chief Mao Chanmakthurith. “When I received the information, I went there because I was afraid there were people coming to take the timber,” he said.

The bridge was designed to accommodate vehicles weighing up to 15 tonnes and was relatively new, said provincial director of public transportation Lim Sambo. However, the truck was carrying about 60 tonnes of timber, plus its own weight of about 10 tonnes.

The wood had been cut down in the Oral Wildlife Sanctuary, said Natural Resources and Wildlife Preservation Organization director Chea Hean.

The collapse happened just days after it was reported that illegal timber smuggling rings allegedly aided by a corrupt soldier and military police officer were moving wood from Kampong Speu, Veal Veng and Phnom Kravanh districts to Vietnam.