BANGKOK — 19 May 2026, relatives of victims killed in Saturday’s catastrophic train and public bus crash at the Makkasan railway crossing have accused state transit agencies of institutional negligence, demanding direct accountability over the fatal accident.
At 10:50 on Tuesday, the relatives of a fatality from the train-bus crash, identified affectionately as Aunt Eiang, arrived to retrieve her body from the Police General Hospital’s Institute of Forensic Medicine for funeral rites at Wat Nam Daeng in Samut Prakan province.
The family later revealed that they did not know the compensation details but were deeply troubled by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT). As the authority are quick to defend their internal personnel, but they have said nothing about compensation packages or taking real responsibility. The family also want to know why the bus driver stopped across the tracks. They need the justice system to find out the truth whether there was a mechanical failure or what caused the driver to do so.
They pleaded for this tragedy to be the absolute last time. These identical incidents have happened so many times before. They expressed bewilderment over why such events continue to happen and questioned how many more lessons must be drawn. The relative added that the family has no interest in financial compensation, because Aunt Eiang was the pillar of the family, and no one can accept this loss.
At 12:30, Santi arrived to meet with investigators to collect documents to retrieve the body of his son for a funeral at Wat Khlong Nueng in Pathum Thani province. He revealed that his son was on his way to visit a friend near the Phatthanakan Intersection and was just three bus stops away from his destination when the crash occurred. The family felt certain from the beginning that the victim was their son, as they had been tracking his location via a mobile sharing app linked to his friend’s phone and his signal abruptly vanished at the exact time of the accident.
Santi argues that public transport should be the safest mode of travel available, making such a severe tragedy unacceptable. He shared that his son was still young, who was due to graduate next year, aspired to be a software application programmer, and had such a bright future ahead of him. Santi launched a scathing critique against both the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) and the SRT that this accident is the result of institutional negligence. The drivers are just low-level employees. The organizations themselves must take responsibility for their systems and manage their staff properly, rather than blame the driver, claiming the worker was the problem, while the organizations evade accountability, refuse to provide compensation, and force the victims’ families to fight individual lawsuits against the employees. The organizations must be held directly accountable.