A man was killed on April 4 when the banks of the O’Sangkat stream in Ta Siem commune’s Rohal village of Siem Reap province’s Svay Leu district collapsed while he was fishing.
District police chief Sun Eng told The Post on April 5 that upon arrival at the scene, officers determined that it was an accident with no other apparent factors involved.
“The man was casting his net over by the banks of the stream and it collapsed, killing him instantly,” he said.
Commune chief Toeng Lam identified the man as Chak Chem, a 21-year-old resident of Rohal village.
Before the incident, many other residents had been casting their nets near a bridge in the village from 1:30pm to 5pm and then divided up the fish they had caught before returning home.
“The others went home and the victim was left alone there still trying to catch fish because he hadn’t caught enough that day,” he said.
Citing the victim’s father, Lam said Chem had covered the stream bed around a bamboo stump near the banks with his net and was waiting there at around 5:30pm when the banks suddenly collapsed.
His father saw what happened and then reported the accident to the police and called in an excavator to dig his son out from the mud of the collapsed banks.
He added that forensic specialists had examined the body of the victim and noted that he had suffered severe lacerations to his face and other serious injuries from the banks mud crushing him.
Lam said that since the case did not involve any criminal offence, the police had just written a report on what occurred and handed the body over to his family for a funeral.
