A new construction accident on a road near Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, was reported on Thursday, just 24 hours after a construction crane fell on a moving passenger train in the country’s northeast, killing at least 32 people.
There was no immediate official confirmation of deaths in Thursday’s accident, but the Facebook page of Fire & Rescue Thailand, which covered the activities of volunteer firefighters and rescue workers, said at least one person was killed.
The accident occurred at the site of an elevated road construction project.
Meanwhile, the search for survivors from Wednesday’s train accident in Nakhon Ratchasima province has ended, said provincial governor Anuphong Suksomnit. Officials said three passengers listed as missing were presumed to have got off the train earlier, but that was still being investigated.
Witnesses recount desperate scenes after crane collapse derails train – Watch on TVNZ+
Officials believed there were 171 people aboard the train’s three carriages, which were being removed from the scene on Thursday.
The construction crane, being used to construct a high-speed rail project, crashed onto the moving train, causing a fatal derailment (Source: Reuters)
In the latest accident on the outskirts of Bangkok, a construction crane collapsed on the Rama 2 Rd elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province at around 9am (3pm NZT), according to the government’s Public Relations Department.
The department said two vehicles were trapped in the wreckage, which included massive metal girders.
Rescue operations were underway, the statement added.
The construction project, an extension of the Rama 2 Rd expressway — a major artery leading from Bangkok — has been notorious in recent years for construction accidents, some of them fatal.
Meanwhile, at the train accident scene in Nakhon Ratchasima, work to remove the wreckage continued on Thursday, after search and rescue operations concluded on Wednesday night. A falling crane derailed and crushed parts of the train under it.
Authorities said the crane that fell was a launching gantry crane, a mobile piece of equipment often used in building elevated roadways.
Narongsak Promta, the provincial police chief of Nakhon Ratchasima, told reporters at the site that police were working to verify the status of all passengers to determine the status of the three people listed as missing.
He said police were still collecting evidence and interviewing relevant parties and had not yet pressed charges against any party.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry reported one South Korean national, a man in his late 30s, was among the dead. The ministry was providing consular services to the bereaved family.
The two-stage high-speed rail project on which the accident occurred has a total investment cost of more than 520 billion baht (NZ$28 billion) and is associated with an ambitious plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project’s contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.
A statement posted on the website of the company, also known as Italthai, expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would take responsibility for paying compensation to the families of the dead and hospital expenses for the injured.
The rail accident sparked outrage because Italthai was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in Bangkok that collapsed during construction in March last year during a major earthquake.
About 100 people were killed in the collapse, the only major structure in Thailand to suffer such serious damage. Dozens of executives were indicted in connection with the disaster but none have yet been tried.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai and Chinese companies’ involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, have occurred.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday the government was aware of the reports about the rail accident and had expressed condolences.
It was not immediately clear which companies were involved in Thursday’s road construction accident.