BFF-07 Cambodian prince injured in head-on road crash

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Cambodian prince injured in head-on road crash

PHNOM PENH, June 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A Cambodian prince and former prime
minister was injured in a head-on collision on a highway in the country’s
southwest on Sunday, officials said.

Prince Norodom Ranariddh and his wife Ouk Phalla were rushed to hospital
after a taxi travelling in the other direction slammed into his motorcade.

“A taxi with many passengers crashed into the convoy and hit the prince’s
car,” an official from Ranarridh’s political party who was accompanying him
told AFP.

A report on the national police website showed badly damaged cars and
victims on the roadside. Seven people were reported injured.

Chuon Narin, police chief of Preah Sihanouk province where the accident
happened, confirmed the crash but said he did not know how severe the
injuries were.

Ranariddh, 74, was travelling from the riverside town of Kampot to Preah
Sihanouk as part of campaigning for controversial national elections set for
July 29.

His party Funcinpec is taking part despite widespread complaints that the
poll will be neither free nor fair after the main opposition group the
Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was banned late last year.

Hun Sen, the prime minister who has been in power for 33 years, has
crushed dissent leading up to the election, ensuring a resounding victory for
his ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

Ranariddh, the half-brother of Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni, has had a
historically fraught relationship with Hun Sen, who pushed him out of power
in 1997.

But he has cosied up to the former foe as part of a political comeback,
and was granted one of the CNRP’s parliamentary seats after they were
redistributed.

Traffic accidents are a leading cause of death in Cambodia, where road
rules are weakly enforced. Highways also lack dividers while speed limits are
often ignored.

In 2015 Ranariddh was slightly injured when his car was hit by a truck.

BSS/AFP/SSS/1244 hrs