A night bus from Cambodia’s top tourist destination plunges off a bridge, killing 13 passengers

Tourists wait for sunrise at the Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap province, Cambodia, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A passenger bus in Cambodia crashed off a bridge into a river on Thursday, killing at least 13 passengers and injuring two dozen others, police said.

The bus was travelling from Siem Reap, home to the country’s fabled Angkor Wat temple complex, to the capital Phnom Penh, when it crashed in the predawn hours in the central province of Kampong Thom, the deputy police chief for the area, Siv Sovanna, told The Associated Press by phone.

All those on the bus were Cambodian nationals, he said.

A preliminary investigation suggested that the driver had been drowsy after his nighttime departure from Siem Reap, for what is normally about a five and a half hour trip, Siv Sovanna said. He didn’t say if the driver was among the dead.

There were believed to have been about 40 passengers who boarded the bus, and rescuers continued to search on Thursday for any more victims.

The bodies of the dead would be kept at a hospital near the site of the crash until they could be picked up by their relatives, Siv Sovanna said.

Traffic crashes in Cambodia killed 1,509 people in 2024, while 1,062 people were killed in the first nine months of 2025 in the country, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.