A 30-year-old man drowned while attempting to cross a flooded stream carrying his motorbike on his shoulders on Monday in Stung Treng’s Siem Pang district, according to police.

Porng Kreal village residents Kun Nek and two neighbours, Kham Binlo, 20, and En Lu, 23, had gone to the O’Tanel forest area in Nhorng Sum village to gather mushrooms and other goods, said Prek Meas commune police chief Baithorng Samai.

As the three men were about to head back home, a storm flooded a stream they had to cross, Samai said.

The victim tried to cross the stream carrying his motorbike on his shoulders as well as the mushrooms and bamboo when his feet got stuck in the mud and he fell into the water.

“Fifteen minutes later, his two neighbours, who went there with him, tried to save him from the water, but he had died already,” Samai said.