A van belonging to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s escort unit and carrying 11 bodyguards crashed on Sunday leaving two injured when it overturned in O’Taporng commune, in Bakan district, Pursat province.

Bakan district police chief Neang Vuth said on Sunday that the accident had occurred at 7:10am in the commune.

The van was heading east from Battambang to Phnom Penh after the unit was deployed to protect the prime minister during the river festival in the province on Saturday.

It was driving behind a soil-carrying truck belonging to a road construction company on a two-lane road. It was travelling on the right-hand lane when the truck merged into it, hitting the vehicle and causing it to overturn.

Once it came to a stop, bystanders rushed to help the bodyguards as they scrambled to exit the overturned van.

Preah Sihanouk provincial governor Kouch Chamroeun was travelling from Battambang and was behind the van when it overturned.

He and local authorities helped take the victims to the Bakan district hospital for first aid. After treatment, local authorities called ambulances that took them to Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh for follow-up treatment.

“This mistake was caused by the truck that overtook the vehicle. However, I do not know the name of the company that owns the truck,” he said.

Chamroeun said after the incident, the company officials travelled to Phnom Penh to follow up with the victims at Calmette Hospital. Police from the Road Traffic Office are holding the truck in Pursat as the company has to resolve the matter legally, he said.