Scores of Cambodian garment workers hurt in truck crash

By Lauren Crothers

PHNOM PENH (AA) - More than 40 garment workers were seriously injured Thursday when the truck they were taking to work crashed, in what has become perhaps the most common threat facing those who work in the country’s $5.7-billion industry.

Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation and the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union told AA on Thursday that the crash happened on a national road in the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

“The truck crashed because there was an accident with a tuk-tuk [a three-wheeled motor vehicle used as a taxi],” he said. “Among the 80 people in the truck, 73 were injured; 43 seriously and are in hospital. Three people have had operations.”

Photos posted on social media showed a woman with a serious arm injury being carried away from the scene and the truck on its side.

Garment truck road accidents have become something of an emblematic issue in an industry that employs about 700,000 people.

Thorn told AA his union has tried to advocate for strengthened road safety legislation, but despite this: “90 percent [of workers] are travelling using these trucks or tuk tuks”.

The transport of workers in this sector is informal and largely unregulated. Many of the trucks are open-topped, while vans are often stuffed with several dozen workers.

Labour Ministry spokesman Heng Suor did not return several requests for comment.