Several segments of a sheet-metal fence surrounding a construction site near Olympic Stadium fell onto a motorist and her passenger on Monday morning, resulting in minor damage to their vehicle.
Mok Boranchhorsak, chief of police in Prampi Makara district’s Veal Vong commune, said a section of the 2-meter-tall fence fell on the women at about 10:30 a.m. as they drove past the Olympia City development, which is being built by the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC).
“The light of the motorbike was broken and the owner was compensated…and there were no injuries,” he said. “The problem has been resolved already.”
Mr. Boranchhorsak said those involved in the development were not responsible for the accident.
“As the company told me, the fence fell down by itself due to wind from passing motorbikes,” he said.
Although an excavator was seen meters from the fallen sections of fence on Monday—the Fresh News website reported that the machine knocked over the barrier—the police chief said it had not been in use at the time of the collapse.
Touch Samnang, a project manager for OCIC, refused to answer questions about the incident.
The incident comes 15 months after a 42-year-old woman was killed when an iron bar fell from the 12th floor of the site, striking her in the head as she rode past on a motorbike. The woman, Buth Vanny, had been riding with her son and his fiancee on their way to pick up items for the couple’s wedding.
Phoeun Chiva, 18, who sells stuffed animals across the street from the fence, said the collapse had only intensified his feeling of unease about the Olympia City project, citing Buth Vanny’s death and placing blame for both incidents at the feet of OCIC.
“I think it was the fault of the construction site because they didn’t set up the fences firmly,” he said.
“I, along with other people including my uncle, feel more afraid now because this is like before, when the iron bar fell and killed the woman.”
