Two people were killed and a third wounded on Monday night in a traffic accident in Banteay Meanchey’s Poipet town that one police officer said involved the car of a high-ranking provincial police official.

Poipet traffic police chief Yang Uy Arng said yesterday that deputy provincial prosecutor Teng Samai had begun an investigation of the incident, which claimed the lives of Cho Ny, 18, and her 18-year-old boyfriend, identified only as Pov. Ny’s sister, 17-year-old Cho Rear, sustained a broken leg.

“On Thursday morning, Teng Samai . . . began investigating and interrogating witnesses and people who live near the site of the accident,” said Arng. “He visited the victims’ families as well,” he said.

“I do not know whether the driver was the owner of the car or someone else,” said Arng, “but the car [a Ford Ranger] is being held at Phsar Kandal commune police station.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a police official working on the investigation with Samai said yesterday that the car belongs to Bi Nasi, the deputy judicial police chief of Banteay Meanchey province. Teng Samai could not be reached to corroborate that claim.

The anonymous police officer added that none of the five witnesses interviewed thus far had been able to identify the car’s driver.

Soum Chankea, an investigator for Adhoc in Banteay Meancheay, said yesterday that he supported the investigation.

“The prosecutor and the judicial police should find and arrest the owner of the car or the driver who killed and injured those people and punish him according to court procedure, even if he is a senior police officer,” he said. “If not, the people will not have trust in government officials.”