Airport Link death ‘not suspicious’

Police have confirmed there was nothing suspicious about the death of a woman who was killed by a train after she fell onto the tracks of the Airport Rail Link (ARL) on Tuesday.

Pol Maj Gen Surapong Thanomchit, head of the Central Investigation Bureau’s railway police division, yesterday said investigators had questioned six people over the death of the woman.

Rosarin Plianla, 31, was killed by a train after falling onto the tracks at the ARL’s Ban Thap Chang Station about 7am on Tuesday.

The woman was about six months pregnant and was about to take a train to Hua Mak station.

Pol Maj Gen Surapong said that CCTV footage showed Piyapong Robkhob, the dead woman’s husband, riding a motorcycle with his wife as a pillion passenger to the ARL station.

Nothing suspicious occurred. She was not crying nor having an argument with her husband, Pol Maj Gen Surapong said.

The six questioned were her husband, three station security guards, the train driver, and a bystander. An initial investigation concluded that none of them were to blame for the woman’s death, he said.

Pol Maj Gen Surapong said the security guards told police that when the woman fell, they pressed the emergency stop plunger and tried to signal to the train driver to stop, but the train was travelling at a speed of about 60 kilometres per hour and could not stop in time.

The train was empty and heading from Suvarnabhumi station to the maintenance depot so was not meant to slow down and pick up passengers, Pol Maj Gen Surapong said.

He also denied reports the woman was crying before she fell on the tracks.

Police are awaiting the results of the autopsy from the Police General Hospital’s Institute of Forensic Medicine, and the findings of an Airport Rail Link probe before reaching any conclusion, he said.

The woman’s family yesterday collected her body following the autopsy.

She will be taken to her home province in Nan where funeral rites will be held.

Mr Piyapong said that he had not yet discussed compensation with the SRT Electric Train Co, which operates the ARL.

He said that he had accompanied his wife to Ban Thap Chang station every day since she became pregnant. The tragedy has caused immense grief to him and his wife’s family, said Mr Piyapong who urged that safety measures be implemented to prevent future tragedies.