PHNOM PENH, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Fourteen garment workers were injured Wednesday morning when a container truck rear-ended their bus in southeastern Svay Rieng province, a Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training official said.
Spokesperson Sun Mesa reported that the accident occurred at 6:00 a.m. local time along National Road 1 in Svay Chrum district. Both vehicles were traveling in the same direction when the lorry struck the worker-transporting bus from behind.
"A total of 14 workers were hurt, with two sustaining serious injuries," he said in a news release.
The injured workers were rushed to the Svay Chrum District Referral Hospital. Mesa noted that the National Social Security Fund will cover their medical costs.
Transporting laborers in open trucks or crowded buses to and from factories is a common practice in Cambodia. The country's multi-billion-dollar garment, footwear, and travel products industry comprises more than 1,800 factories and branches and employs roughly 1.1 million workers, most of whom are women. ■