No Compensation Planned for Derailment

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
06 August 2008

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Families whose houses were smashed in a Phnom Penh train derailment last month will not be compensated for their loss, a top railway officials said Wednesday.

The homes had been built illegally along the tracks, and the damage was not significant, said Sokhom Pheakavoan Muny, general director of Cambodian Royal Railways.

"The derailment was not a big damage to the house and property of the people," he said. "We have no policy for compensation, because the people's settlement is illegal, built on land belonging to the state railway."

Such compensation would encourage wrongdoing, he said.

Victims estimate damage to the four destroyed homes reached up to $8,000.

"We went to protest before the commune official about compensation three times a week," said Savath Savorn, who was among the families to have her property destroyed in the July 5 derailment, said. "But the result was nothing. Now we must struggle for compensation."

A commune official said a railway working group and local authorities would meet to discuss "humanitarian assistance issues" one more time.

Families Seek Money After Train Derailment

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
09 July 2008

Local authorities are helping four families seek compensation from Royal Railways of Cambodia, after their houses were destroyed in a Phnom Penh train derailment Saturday.

Im Narin, 58, saw the front half of her small wooden home destroyed when a train pulling two empty fuel tankers jumped the tracks in Tuol Kork district Saturday morning.

"We the victims request the Royal Railways of Cambodia authority to pay compensation totaling $8,000 for our destroyed homes and materials," she said Wednesday, standing between her ruined house and the railroad tracks that pass through this impoverished area.

Sim Tang, 63, whose house was flattened in the derailment, complained that the train had sped through the neighborhood on an unsafe track. The railways were responsible for the damage, he said.

"The railway must pay for the damage, because the accident happened from the train's technical problem," said Vith Darith, first deputy chief of Boeung Kak I commune, who is preparing documentation for the victims' compensation request. "We will try more and more to get compensation for the victims."

Sokhom Pheakakvoan Muny, director general of Royal Railways of Cambodia, said the authority was investigating the accident and the role of the train engineer.

Thou shalt return to the people what thou stole from them

A view of the derailed containers (Photo: Chulthea, Koh Santepheap newspaper)

Local villagers came in drove to scoop up the spilled diesel, a welcome boon to their poor and meager living condition and also a free cleanup for Sokimex (Photo: Chulthea, Koh Santepheap newspaper)

Train derailment causes 2 diesel containers to spill

Monday, October 29, 2007
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Phnom Penh – A train hauling diesel fuel out of the Phnom Penh train station to the Sokimex stockpile in Russey Keo commune, Russey Keo district, derailed and three diesel containers overturned in the afternoon of 27 October. Several hundreds of local population came in drove to scoop up the spilled diesel. The derailment took place near Boeng Salang village, Russey Keo commune, Russey Keo district, when the train approached the Sokimex stockpile station. Nevertheless, it is sheer luck that the derailment did not cause any further accident to people living nearby the railroad tracks, and that only tens of thousands of liters of diesel fuel spilled out the broken containers causing several local people to come and scoop them in drove.

According to an eyewitness, when the train hauling the fuel container arrived near his house, the last fuel container derailed out of track and the wagons ahead of it kept on moving forward slowly. Then, another container overturned to the left, and the following container also derailed and overturned to the right. During the overturning, the container which fell to left broke apart and several tens of thousands of liters of diesel spilled out, the second container that overturned also had a spill from its opening. After the fuel container overturned from the tracks, and the fuel started to spill out, several hundreds of people came in drove to scoop up the spilled fuel in spite of the cops firing several shots to try to protect the fuel. The scavengers still went in to collect the fuel anyway claiming that if they do not scoop the fuel, it will be lost from the spill anyway. The scavengers said that even after there is no fuel left in the containers, some still tried to skim the fuel floating on water until night time. The next morning, on 28 October, several scavengers can still be seen trying to skim fuel out of water. It was reported that people came in to buy the collected fuel from the scavengers’ homes, the scavengers were paid almost 2,000 riels ($0.50) per liter or 1,000 riels ($0.25) per liter depending on the type of fuel collected.

An employee of Sokimex at the accident location, indicated that the cause of the accident was due to the bad condition and insecure railroad tracks, some of the tracks do not even touch the ground, and the tracks are too old, and some even fell apart. The Sokimex employee said that 16 fuel containers were hauled from Sihanoukville by rail to Phnom Penh, and 9 of the containers were hauled to the Sokimex stockpile at Russey Keo district. While traveling to the accident location, containers No. 5 and 6 derailed and overturned causing container No. 5, which contained 38,000 liters of diesel, to overturn to the left, and 30,000 liters of fuel was spilled. Container No. 6 which has a capacity of 48,000 liters, overturned to the right, and 3 to 4,000 liters of fuel was spilled.

The Sokimex employee said that it is sheer luck that it did not cause any human accident, and that only the Sokimex company sustained major loss. After the accident, Sokimex employees hauled the remaining containers to the company stockpile and brought in empty containers to pump fuel out of the overturned containers. In the morning of 28 October, Sokimex employees are still pumping fuel and tried to pull out the damaged containers.