A 20-year-old construction worker was killed yesterday in Phnom Penh when a concrete ceiling he was building collapsed onto him, an official said.
Phon Teu, a laborer from Svay Rieng province who was working with two of his brothers at a small apartment building site in Pur Senchey district’s Choam Chao commune, had been removing a wooden form used to support the ground floor ceiling when it caved in and crushed him at about 10:30 a.m., deputy commune police chief Keo Sarith said.
He said the metal structure built by the victim to support the concrete once it dried was too weak.
“The mistake is due to his own technical error,” Mr. Sarith said.
The deputy police chief said that because Phon Teu was a day laborer without a formal contract, his employer would not be liable for his death, though he said he did not even know the identity of the building owner.
Mr. Sarith said the victim’s body was recovered by his brothers, who had already taken it to their hometown in Kompong Ro district.
