1 Missing, 2 injured After Train Hits NGO Pickup
A 19-year woman was missing, presumed drowned and two men were badly injured after an NGO’s pickup truck was hit by a train in Pursat province (that’s the branch line to Battambang) late Monday night, knocking the occupants into a river, police said. Som Thy, 40, and Sam Hing, 45, staff members for the NGO CARE Cambodia, and Kong Rattana, 19 were crossing the track at 11.45 pm when they were hit by the Battambang-to-Phnom Penh train, which pushed their vehicle 20 meters along the track. The three fell from the vehicle onto riverbank and into a tributary of the Tonle Sap river in Sampov Meas district, district police chief Len Song said. Passengers from the train were able to rescue the two men, but Kong Rattana was not found, and authorities were searching for her body in the river, Len Song said. Lach Bunthoeuth, a project manager for CARE’s Pursat office, said the two men were in stable condition in a hospital in Phnom Penh. Len Song said that the three were traveling back from a party in Banteay Meanchey province and that he suspected alcohol may have played a part in the collision, though he admitted that the railway crossing had no signs or barriers to warn that trains were approaching. (Saing Soenthrith).
Comments:
• Freak accident! You probably have more chance to win the lottery than to end up in this accident. Traffic at night is sparse, trains even sparser!
• What was the train doing in Pursat (half way from Battambang to Phnom Penh) traveling in the middle of the night?
• The same can be said concerning the car. An NGO car returning from a party, nearly 200 km’s away? Most NGO’s are very strict with alcohol and driving. And why two middle age men (staff of NGO) with a teenage female (not staff)?
• Crossing Cambodia looked at the map, you do not need to cross railroad between Battambang and Pursat, the direction from where the car was supposedly coming.
• Well, with such a low use of rail frequency what’s the use of signs / barriers? Especially at night, when trains are usually used.
• Did the train have a head light?
• If there are no rail cars for passengers how were the passengers housed on board the train?
