A day after three workers at a Phnom Penh marble warehouse were crushed to death, the owner and supervisor of the business were both released from police custody, warehouse employees said yesterday.

A member of Xin Yong Thai (Cambodia) Group Co Ltd’s staff, who declined to be named, yesterday said police released the pair on Wednesday evening.

Sen Sok district police chief Mok Hong declined to comment on the case.

The owner of Xin Yong Thai’s warehouse – identified by local media as Chhoeng Toeurng Pinh, 46 – and a female supervisor were arrested on Tuesday evening, after workers Thong Bora, Sao Bunna and Hak Ratha were killed when marble they were unloading from a truck fell on them.

Chum Sodany, Bora’s sister-in-law, yesterday said the managers’ negligence led to the deaths.

The warehouse typically hires outside workers to unload marble, but on Tuesday they asked their own workers, who had no experience with the procedure, she added.

“[Xin Yong Thai officials] said that they can pay $1,500 for each person killed, but my family rejected that amount.… That is too little for my brother’s life,” said Sodany, whose family is demanding $10,000.

Moeun Tola, of the Community Legal Education Center, said the owner and manager should be prosecuted because “even though [the owner] knew the accident could happen, [he] didn’t do anything to prevent it”.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SEAN TEEHAN