Horrific accident puts Cambodia’s poor travel conditions for garment workers in spotlight
- Five female garment factory workers had their arms severed clean off as they were commuting to work in an overloaded open-back truck
- Up to 70 women can be packed in like cattle on a single truck, with drivers, often young and undertrained, under pressure to carry as many people as possible
Lang Srey Sar, 19, looks at the place where her arm was just a matter of weeks ago. The Cambodian factory worker lost the limb in a gruesome road accident. “Missing an arm … I look like a bird without a wing,” she says, sadly.
Srey Sar was one of about 40 garment workers on their way to their factories in an open-back truck on April 4 when it collided with a cement mixer truck that their driver was trying to overtake. Eighteen of the women were injured and five, who were holding on to the top of a metal frame, each lost an arm.
Roeun Kunthear, 31, was another of them. “I saw my arm cut off at the shoulder. Only when I saw it falling into my sleeve did I realise what was happening,” she says, talking to the South China Morning Post in her village in Kampong Speu province, about 50km (31 miles) from Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital.
According to the workers, whose arms were severed clean off, an ambulance arrived at the scene 30 minutes later. Their injuries were so serious, however, that the local hospital was not equipped to handle the surgery required for their injuries, so they were taken to another hospital two hours away.
The garment industry is Cambodia’s largest private employer, providing jobs for up to 800,000 factory workers. Tens of thousands travel to and from work packed into open-back trucks. They are invariably overloaded, with up to 70 women crammed in like cattle, and many hold on to the metal frame to keep their balance. Accidents happen frequently.
The country recorded 4,853 traffic accidents involving garment workers in 2017, according to statistics from the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. Sixty-eight workers died and 683 were seriously injured. The number of accidents fell to 1,849 last year, with 40 deaths and 349 serious injuries. The ministry adds that 45.5 per cent of the accidents in 2017 were caused by truck drivers, while the figure for last year was 43 per cent.
The practise of using trucks to transport workers has been criticised by labour activists and NGOs for years, but despite promises that the arrangements will be improved, little has changed.
Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation and a board member of Cambodia’s National Social Security Fund, whose task is to assist workers financially, says the problem of traffic accidents in the country is “systemic”.
“You can’t fix one thing and then think that all the issues will be solved,” he says. “Often the truck drivers cram as many workers into their trucks as possible, simply to make more income. The trucks are overloaded, they drive much too fast, and they don’t see safety as a priority. Many drivers are very young … They don’t know the traffic rules and sometimes even drive while they are drunk,” he says.
Thon Vanna, 38, drives workers to factories in the same area that the five women lost their limbs.
“It really scared me when that accident happened; it has made me much more careful,” Vanna says.
He adds that, for him, the lack of street lighting is one of the biggest dangers while driving.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to see the potholes or bends in the road when it is so dark … If the driver doesn’t pay enough attention, accidents will happen.”
I’m still in shock and traumatised by the accident. Right now I’m scared of trucks. I don’t ever want to travel in that truck again, even though the factory says we can go back in the future to see what kind of work we are still able to do
Phy Khem, 19, another of the women who lost an arm in the accident, is still recovering back in her home village. She is the eldest child in her family, with three younger siblings. The money she earned helped to support her family.
“Including overtime, I made about US$250 a month. I gave US$230 to my mother, used another US$10 for transport costs and kept the remaining US$10 for pocket money,” she says.
Khem is visited by Khom Srey Penh, 26, who lives in a nearby village. Despite having also lost an arm in the same accident, she has ridden over on her motorbike, with her daughter sitting at the front.
“I’m still in shock and traumatised by the accident,” she says. “Right now I’m scared of trucks. I don’t ever want to travel in that truck again, even though the factory says we can go back in the future to see what kind of work we are still able to do.”
The women’s plight has thrust the dangers of garment workers’ travel arrangements back into the spotlight. Ath Thorn says that to improve the situation all stakeholders need to work together.
“The government and employers should make drivers responsible for providing safe transport. They shouldn’t overload their trucks and expect the workers to pay high transport fares. It’s the government’s and the employers’ responsibility to make sure that their commute is safe,” he says.
Driver Vanna agrees in principle and concedes that more training and awareness would help. However, he adds, drivers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Their earnings are so meagre that they are forced to carry as many passengers as possible, he says.
“We need to buy fuel, and many of us are still paying back loans we’ve taken out to buy our trucks. If we have fewer passengers, we won’t make any profit.”
Unionist Seak Hong says she has long been concerned about the way she and her colleagues commute to work. Following the accident in April, she and other workers have become even more anxious, she says.
“Since that accident, all of us have been more careful. Every time the truck [we’re commuting in] passes another vehicle, we make sure to take our arms off the bar. I don’t want this kind of horrible accident to happen to us.”
Hong adds that better transport is top among concerns of Cambodia’s garment workers right now.
“It would make a big difference if we had chairs to sit on and enough space so that we can relax a little during the journey. They should expand the roads, improve the street lighting, and if the drivers are more careful that should greatly reduce the number of accidents,” she says.
Since the accident I have spent all my savings and I have no idea what will happen next. The National Social Security Fund has only covered the cost of our medical treatment, but I still need more money to look after myself
The youngest two women involved in the accident – the 19-year-olds – worry about their future. Phy Khem is having a hard time getting used to the fact that she has lost a limb.
“I think I looked more attractive when I still had both of my arms. Now that I have lost one, I don’t feel pretty any more,” she says.
Srey Sar, who is still single, has similar worries. “I can’t imagine anyone would want to marry me when I only have one arm. It’s less attractive and I almost can’t do anything,” she says.
Another of the victims, 32-year-old Ran Rin, has moved back into her parents’ house since the accident.
“My husband now lives alone. He is a rice farmer and sometimes goes out to work on a construction site to earn some extra money. I can’t do anything now when he’s out. So I came to stay with my parents who, together with my siblings, can help me.”
Kunthear is also still distressed. She says she needs between US$250 and US$300 a month to take care of her family.
“But now we don’t have that money any more. Since the accident I have spent all my savings and I have no idea what will happen next. The National Social Security Fund has only covered the cost of our medical treatment, but I still need more money to look after myself.”
In a statement, the National Social Security Fund says the five workers will receive a disability pension. So far, none of them has been notified about when they will receive their first payment.
The workers have also filed a complaint demanding US$3,000 each from the truck driver responsible for their injuries, who was arrested after the accident, but are still waiting for a response.
