Fatal back-to-back crane collapses tied to same Thai firm: Minister
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The crane fell at the under-construction Rama II Expressway in Samut Sakhon province.
PHOTO: FIRE AND RESCUE THAILAND/FACEBOOK
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BANGKOK – The collapse of a highway construction crane killed two people near Bangkok on Jan 15, with a Thai minister saying the building firm was also involved in a crane failure the day before that left 32 dead.
Car dashcam footage verified by AFP showed the moment the massive crane fell on Jan 15, unleashing clouds of dust as well as rubble across the area as several vehicles pulled over or reversed to avoid falling debris.
Motorcycle-taxi driver Booncherd La-orium said he no longer felt safe driving in the suburb outside Bangkok.
“I had goosebumps just thinking about how risky it is to be here. It could have happened to me,” the 69-year-old told AFP. “I still can’t get over yesterday’s incident, and this morning I heard another one happened again.”
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn linked Italian-Thai Development to the country’s second deadly crane collapse in two days, according to local media.
The company was contracted to build a section of a China-backed high-speed rail project where a massive crane fell on Jan 14
“Yes, it is Italian-Thai. I still do not understand what happened,” Mr Phiphat told local media on Jan 15.
“We have to find out the facts, whether it was an accident or something else,” he said, adding that two people were killed.
The company – one of Thailand’s biggest construction firms – has seen several deadly accidents at its sites in recent years.
The crane that fell on the morning of Jan 15 at the under-construction Rama II Expressway in Samut Sakhon province, outside Bangkok, left two people dead, local police chief Sitthiporn Kasi told AFP from the scene.
In other verified footage from the same vehicle as the dashcam, someone is heard saying: “I almost died... Please pull over first.”
Another person replies: “That’s okay now. It’s not falling further. It’s a crane collapse again in front of me.”
“That was close,” the first person says.
Rescue worker Sutthiwat Thanomsat told AFP he arrived at the scene shortly after the crane crashed, and witnessed the aftermath of a pickup truck driver killed by the impact.
“Injured people were taken to a local hospital,” he said.
The Rama II Expressway, a main artery linking the capital to Thailand’s south, hosts several major infrastructure projects, including tollway construction.
Construction work has been under way for years to expand the road’s capacity and reduce congestion, but the project has been beset by delays and fatalities, earning it the nickname “Death Road”.
Mr Surachai Wongho, a 61-year-old retiree who drives on Rama II every day, said he is haunted by the thought that one day he could be hurt in an accident.
“It’s the same incident happening over and over again in Thailand. It’s time for the government to do something,” he told AFP.
In March, a concrete beam forming part of an under-construction elevated roadway collapsed on Rama II, killing several people.
A crane collapsed in November 2024, killing at least three workers, while local media reported two more deadly accidents in May 2023 and January 2024.
The incident on Jan 15 followed the crane collapse in Nakhon Ratchasima, north-east of the capital Bangkok, one day earlier.
One of Thailand’s deadliest rail accidents in years, a massive launching gantry crane, used by Italian-Thai in the construction of a high-speed rail project, collapsed on the morning of Jan 14 onto a passenger train below. The Health Ministry said 32 people were confirmed dead, three were missing, and 64 were hospitalised, including seven in serious condition.
In Nakhon Ratchasima on Jan 15, construction workers milled around the scene, snapping photos of the wreckage, as relatives of victims visited the site to mourn and pray in silence.
The crane was still hanging off giant concrete pillars, built to hold up the future elevated high-speed rail line – a joint Thailand-China endeavour. Italian-Thai expressed its condolences on Jan 14 and promised to compensate the victims’ families and cover medical expenses for the injured.
The nation’s rail operator said it has ordered Italian-Thai to halt construction until an investigation is completed. Transport Minister Phiphat said on Jan 14 that all parties involved would be held accountable, including Italian-Thai and a Chinese consultancy company.
The crane operator was Thai and had fallen and died in Jan 14’s accident, said an Italian-Thai worker who declined to give her name. AFP
