Last year Cambodia’s garment factories exported more than $13 billion worth of apparel. The clothing, footware, and travel gear industry is a major sector of the kingdom’s economy, along with tourism.
There are more than 1,300 garment factories in Cambodia, employing upwards of 840,000 workers, mostly young women. Most of these workers travel from their villages to the factories in open trucks, standing in the back with no seats, no seat belts, no safety measures.
Road accidents involving factory workers are common. More than 70 workers were standing in the back of this truck when it was in an accident with another truck. They may have been lucky there was so much mud to soften the impact when they were thrown from the vehicle as it rolled down an embankment.