The Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court charged four Chinese people over the deaths of 28 after a building collapsed in Sihanoukville over the weekend.
The building’s owner, Chen Kun, 39, and the construction company’s owner, Deng Xin Gul, 48, were charged with manslaughter, while plastering contractor Gau Yu, 29, and site supervisor Xie Ya Ping, 43, were charged with being accomplices to manslaughter, according to an order by Judge Sok Heng.
All four were also charged with causing involuntary bodily harm and causing damage with aggravating circumstances (causing injuries to others).
Manslaughter carries a possible jail sentence of one to three years for both perpetrators and accomplices; causing involuntary bodily harm from six months to two years; and intentional damage causing injury to others from five to 10 years.
Court spokesman Lim Bunheng told VOD that authorities were investigating whether others were also involved and culpable.
“The investigating judge decided to put the four Chinese suspects in pretrial detention,” Bunheng said. “Now, we are searching for other involved persons.”
Rescue teams called off their search for survivors in the rubble at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, two days after the collapse, with the death toll standing at 28 and 26 injured, according to a statement from the provincial administration.
(Translated and edited from the original article on VOD Khmer)
