The father of a pregnant woman who was killed by a train after falling on the Airport Rail Link track in June last year has filed a civil lawsuit for 30 million baht in compensation from the operator of ARL, the State Railway of Thailand and the Transport Ministry.
Veera Plianla, escorted by his lawyer Ponthep Puanya, on Tuesday filed the suit at Phra Khanong Provincial Court, demanding 30 million baht in compensation plus interest of 7.5% annually from the four defendants over the accident on June 18, 2017.
The suit named the Electrified Train Co, operator of the ARL service; the SRT, owner of the airport rail link service; the Transport Ministry, and the transport minister as first to fourth defendants, respectively.
Rosarin Plianla, then 31, was killed by a train after falling onto the tracks at the ARL's Ban Thap Chang Station about 7am on June 18 last year.
She was about six months pregnant and was waiting for a train to Hua Mak station.
The court accepted the suit for consideration and set July 23 for the first hearing.
Mr Veera said he had earlier sought compensation from the operator of the Airport Rail Link, but his demand had not been met. His family had received only 400,000 baht compensation from passenger accident insurance.
He recalled the fatal day. His daughter had ridden pillion on her husband Piyapong Robkhob's motorcycle. The couple left home at Soi On Nut 65 heading to Thap Chang station. While waiting for the train, Rosarin fainted and fell onto the tracks. Nobody came to his daughter's rescue before she was run over by a train, Mr Veera said.
Mr Ponthep, the family’s lawyer, said the amount of the compensation claimed took into consideration the victim’s loss of opportunity to take care of her parents and the psychological trauma caused to her parents by the loss of their daughter and their unborn grandchild.
In the suit, the plaintiff also asked the court to order the defendants to install security barriers and arrange security guards to assist passengers and help prevent future similar accidents.