The crane came down in under a minute. “There were small pieces, like fragments of concrete, that started falling,” eyewitness Maliwan Nakthon told BBC Thai. “After those fell, the crane slowly slid down and hit. It struck hard, and then it came down and crushed the train.”
At least 32 people died and 66 were injured when the construction crane fell onto a passenger train in Sikhio district, Nakhon Ratchasima province, at about 9 a.m. on Wednesday, January 14. Seven of the injured were in critical condition. Three people were listed as missing.
The crane was a launching gantry lifting a concrete segment for an elevated section of the new China-Thailand high-speed rail line. It hit the second carriage of an express from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani, which was carrying 171 passengers at 120 km/h. The carriage was cut in half and other cars derailed. One caught fire.
The crane operator survived with injuries. He said he had heard uneven concrete joints sliding against each other shortly before the collapse and ordered workers off the platform.
Who built it, and what officials said
Italian-Thai Development (ITD) is building the section with China Railway Engineering Corporation. ITD said it regretted the accident and would compensate the families of the dead and injured. The State Railway of Thailand opened an investigation and said it was taking legal action against the company.
Pichet Kunadhamraks, director-general of the Department of Rail Transport, said ITD had broken a Ministry of Transport rule that requires work on high-speed rail lines to stop while a train passes underneath. The cause was still under investigation. “The Department of Rail Transport will urgently investigate the true cause, whether it is due to equipment failure or human error,” Pichet said.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul ordered official inquiries, including a 15-day fact-finding committee. He wanted someone to “be punished and held accountable.” Such accidents, he said, “can only happen due to negligence, skipped steps, deviations from the design, or the use of incorrect materials.”
The next day, another crane operated by ITD collapsed on Rama II Road in Samut Sakhon, hitting two vehicles. Two people were killed and five injured. That crane was being used to build an expressway bridge.
Sources
- Collapsing crane kills 32 people on train in Thailand
- At Least 32 Dead, 66 Injured In Construction Crane Collapse On Train | iHeart
