Cambodian prince struck in hit-and-run accident

Cambodian prince struck in hit-and-run accident

Ranariddh's wife in Bangkok hospital

Cambodia’s Prince Norodom Ranariddh was struck by a hit-and-run driver, leaving six people, including his wife, injured, local media reported Monday.

A spokesman for the country's Funcinpec political party, which the prince heads, stopped short of calling the Saturday incident in Kampong Cham province political terrorism, but he told the Phnom Penh Post it was "not normal".

Cambodia’s Prince Norodom Ranariddh (Reuters photo)

"The matter of the truck hitting the prince's car was not normal," he said. "I would like to appeal to all relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate (the case) and to bring justice for the prince. It was not incidental, because the truck escaped and hit the prince's car in the right lane," Nhep Bun Chin told the newspaper.

The accident occurred when a dump truck collided with the prince's motorcade after leaving a political rally for the capital. The truck hit both the prince's vehicle and one carrying his bodyguards.

The prince's wife, Ouk Phalla, was injured seriously and sent to a hospital in Bangkok Sunday.

Kampong Cham provincial police chief Ben Rath quickly dismissed talk that the hit-and-run was politically motivated, telling the Post that it was merely a traffic accident, "not a political matter".

Funcinpec was planning to file a lawsuit over the accident today.

The prince, son of the late King Norodom Sihanouk, was speaking to about 3,000 people in Kampong Cham, urging them not to vote for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party and arguing that its leaders, Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, incited deadly unrest in 2013.

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