PHNOM PENH, June 18, 2018 (News Wires) - A Cambodian prince hurt in a car crash that killed his wife was flown to Bangkok for treatment Monday and is expected to recover, a member of his political party said. Prince Norodom Ranariddh, a former prime minister and half-brother of the current king Norodom Sihamoni, suffered "some broken ribs" and leg injuries, Yim Savy, the secretary general of the Funcinpec party, said. "He was sent to Thailand as a precaution", Savy said, adding that the 74-year-old was "speaking normally". Bangkok has some of the best medical facilities in Southeast Asia and Cambodians who can afford it often travel there for treatment. Ranariddh, the head of the royalist Funcinpec party, was riding with his wife Ouk Phalla in a campaign convoy in southwest Cambodia on Sunday when a taxi going in the other direction hit their vehicle head-on. Phalla, 39, found fame in Cambodia as a classical dancer before marrying Ranariddh, died in a local hospital while Ranariddh was airlifted to the capital Phnom Penh. At least seven people were injured, police said. A senior Funcinpec official told reporters at Phalla's funeral on Monday that authorities should investigate the crash. "We just wonder how a convoy led by a siren car had an accident," he said, describing Ranariddh's injuries as "quite serious."
