A violent storm at a sugar plantation in Preah Vihear’s Chheb district on Monday resulted in the injury of eight police and military police officers when the structure they took refuge under collapsed, according to officials yesterday.

District Governor Soksan Dara said a stage and tent set up for yesterday’s inauguration by Prime Minister Hun Sen of the Chinese-owned Rui Feng (Cambodia) International sugar mill collapsed on Monday night due to the storm.

“They were under the camp, so when the storm came, it flattened the stage. The stage just fell onto the eight of them and caused injuries,” he said, adding that the structure was totally destroyed and that the four more seriously injured officers were sent to the Siem Reap Provincial Referral Hospital.

Provincial police chief Si Kiri said two officers sustained broken legs, one suffered a waist injury and a fourth had a head wound. The premier, aware of the incident, will help cover the medical expenses, he added.

Speaking at the inauguration yesterday, the prime minister made a public appeal to be wary of storms.

“This year, the climate is the most terrible,” he said.

Lightning from the storm also caused a fire that scorched about 10 hectares of the plantation, according to Rui Feng administration director Kor Yang.

National Committee for Disaster Management spokesman Keo Vy said that in the first four months of 2016, 21 storms destroyed 107 homes and damaged 357 more, with three people killed and another 20 injured.

Lightning, he continued, was responsible for three deaths.