Owner compensates victims of funfair ride accident
The owner of the funfair ride that broke apart on Sunday night in Samut Prakan has agreed to pay compensation to the 15 people injured in the incident, police said on Wednesday.
The “Plameuk Hansa” (Fun Octopus) operator, Jenjira Khongwan, 52, had been interviewed by police and agreed to provide money to all the victims, who were satisfied with her gesture of responsibility, said Pol Lt-Colonel Prasit Meksa of Muang Samut Prakan precinct.
Jenjira said that, since the crash, her employees had visited the injured people to tell them that she would cover their medical bills, property damage (some victims lost or broke their phones in the crash) and some compensation. In all she would pay Bt112,000, she said.
She said this was her company's first accident and she would have mechanics from China repair and replace parts on the ride as part of a safety assessment.
As far as criminal proceedings go, Prasit said police had gathered testimony from all the victims and were waiting for results from an inspection of the ride before deciding whether to charge Jenjira with recklessness causing injury to others.
The incident occurred during the annual Phra Samut Pagoda fair held inside the Samut Prakan provincial hall’s compound. Two arms of the ride broke, sending chairs crashing to the ground at 8.30pm on Sunday. Fortunately, the ride was at a slow speed and the chairs were not high off the ground, so nobody was badly hurt.
