Maliwan Nakthon says the whole thing took less than a minute. She saw fragments of concrete begin to fall, then watched the crane follow. “After those fell, the crane slowly slid down and hit,” she told BBC Thai. “It struck hard, and then it came down and crushed the train.”
At least 32 people died on Wednesday, 14 January, when the construction crane dropped onto a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, north-east Thailand. The train was heading from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani province, mostly with students and workers, and the crash happened at about 09:00 local time. The crane derailed it and crushed carriages, and one of them caught fire.
The BBC counted 66 injured, among them a one-year-old and an 85-year-old. Thailand’s health ministry gave a slightly different picture: 32 dead, three missing and 64 in hospital, seven of them in serious condition. Officials gave different passenger totals too. The BBC cited some 171 on board, while Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said 195.
What witnesses saw
The Nation reported that the crane was lifting a large concrete section when it fell on the train. Mitr Intrpanya, who was at the scene, told AFP he heard a loud noise “like something sliding down from above, followed by two explosions”. The 54-year-old found the crane lying across a train of three carriages. “The metal from the crane appeared to strike the middle of the second carriage, slicing it in half,” he said.
Thirasak Wongsoongnern, a staff member on the train, told local media that he and the passengers were thrown into the air. Dozens of rescuers worked into the evening, using other cranes to clear wreckage and search the tilted carriages. The site is 230km north-east of Bangkok.
The company and the project
The crane was building an overhead railway on a US$5.4bn project backed by China, meant to link Bangkok with Laos. Italian-Thai Development holds the contract for the Lam Takhong-Sikhio section where the accident happened. The company expressed regret and said it would “take responsibility for compensating the victims’ families and covering medical expenses for those injured”.
The State Railway of Thailand said it is suing the firm, and damage to the carriages alone was initially put above 100 million baht (US$3.1m). Theerachote Rujiviphat, an adviser on the high-speed project, told AFP that Italian-Thai was solely responsible, adding that the launching crane was also its equipment.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul called for “someone [to] be punished and held accountable”. “Accidents like this can only happen due to negligence, skipped steps, deviations from the design, or the use of incorrect materials,” he said. He also noted that such incidents happen often and that it is “time to change the law to blacklist construction companies that are repeatedly responsible for accidents.”
The record gives his words weight. Italian-Thai built the Bangkok skyscraper that collapsed last March in an earthquake, killing around 90 people, mostly construction workers. The company and its director were among more than 20 people and firms indicted in August last year over that collapse. In March, five people died and 24 were hurt when a crane fell at a highway site run by a joint venture that included the firm. A 2017 crane collapse by the company killed three workers in Bangkok, and in 2015 one of its cranes crushed two cars near a railway station.
The Chinese embassy in Thailand said no Chinese construction companies or workers were involved, Chinese state media reported. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Beijing “attaches great importance to the safety of this project and its personnel”.
Sources
- Thailand: At least 32 dead after construction crane falls on train
- Thailand crane collapses onto train, killing 32
Sources
- At least 32 killed after crane collapses on train in Thailand – BBC
- Thailand crane collapses onto train, killing 32 – CNA
