PHNOM PENH, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Ten students were confirmed dead and one was missing after a motorized boat accident on the Mekong River in southern Cambodia's Kandal province, a senior police official said on Friday.
The accident occurred Thursday evening at around 7:00 p.m. local time when the boat, with 15 people aboard, including two boat crew members and 13 students, sank about 50 meters off the shore in Leuk Daek district, said Kandal provincial police chief Chhoeun Sochet.
"By Friday afternoon, 10 bodies had been recovered, while four survivors, two students and two crew members, were rescued," he told reporters. "Rescue efforts for the one missing are still going on."
The accident happened when the boat ferried those students from an English class to their homes on an island village, Sochet said, adding that high speed, overloading and neglect driving were blamed for the accident.
According to the Kandal Provincial Police's report, the ill-fated students aged between 12 and 14 years.
On social media, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen expressed his condolences and urged people living along the rivers to be extra vigilant, particularly during the flood season.
