The Transport Ministry has “never allowed” anyone to use the under-construction Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway — but motorists are using it anyway, leading to repeated accidents including a head-on collision on Monday that injured six people.
The ministry issued a warning on Tuesday that people must stop using the road until it is officially open.
Pal Chandara, a ministry spokesperson, said he did not have a total number of accidents that have happened on the unfinished road, but there were “a lot.”
“The ministry has never allowed anyone to use the road yet, and now, as you’ve seen, an accident happened,” he said. “I’ve heard that a lot of accidents have happened, including small accidents, but this time it was a very big accident.”
The accident referred to by Chandara is a head-on collision in Kampong Speu province on Monday.
Phnom Sruoch district police said in a statement that the crash happened when a black Toyota Alphard hit a white Toyota Alphard coming from the opposite direction. Photos from the accident show that one of the cars came off the road and landed five meters off the shoulder of the road.
The black vehicle was carrying two Chinese nationals, while the white one had four people — one Cambodian, two Chinese and one Vietnamese.
District police official Pov Noeurn said the crash happened around 1:30 p.m. and all six people — four men and two women — had been injured, including three of them seriously. Both vehicles were on the same side of the highway, which has a divider running through the middle, he said.
The statement said the Chinese passenger on the black Alphard had been rushed to Calmette Hospital, while two passengers on the white Alphard suffered broken limbs.
