A man was decapitated by a train in Sihanoukville on Saturday after falling asleep on the railway tracks, police said. Cheng Virak, 48, a widower and father of eight, was inebriated when he fell asleep, according to Sihanoukville police chief Phol Phorsda.
“He has gone to sleep there a few times before,” Mr. Phorsda said. “Maybe he thinks the railroad is colder so he goes to sleep there when he is drunk.”
Nearby residents had on previous occasions moved Cheng Virak off the tracks before trains passed, he added.
Prak Puthea, deputy police chief in Sihanoukville’s Muoy commune, said that the train driver could not stop in time to save Cheng Virak.
“The train’s driver said that he used the headlight and used the air brake until it broke, but still could not stop the train on time,” Mr. Puthea said.
Originally from Prey Veng province, Cheng Virak’s wife died two years ago, and he had struggled to support his eight children as a laborer living in a rented room in the port city, Mr. Puthea said.
