Developer linked to the Thai rail disaster involved in another deadly construction incident
The company behind the section of Thailand’s China-backed high-speed rail line where dozens of people died in Wednesday’s train disaster is the same developer blamed for last year’s deadly office tower collapse in Bangkok.
Italian-Thai Development Public Company Ltd (ITD), one of Thailand’s largest developers, said it regretted that a crane crashed onto a moving passenger train in the central province of Nakhon Ratchasima, killing at least 31 and injuring more than 60 of the nearly 200 people on board.
A crane toppled from the Thai-China high-speed railway construction site in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Sikhio district and crashed into a passenger train service.Credit: Getty Images
The three-car train was traveling from the capital Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani province in the country’s east when it derailed and partially caught fire just after 09:00 (13:00 AEDT) due to the impact.
Footage and footage from the crash site, more than 200 kilometers from Bangkok, showed cars overturned, smoke billowing and rescue workers trying to pull out the injured.
Officials said the crane was being used to build an elevated section of a new Thailand-China high-speed rail project that aims to connect the capital of Bangkok to the northeastern province of Nong Khai and eventually to China via Laos.
According to the mega project’s website, ITD is the contractor of the Lam Takhong-Sikhio section where the incident occurred.
“Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited expresses its deepest condolences for the loss of life and injuries… the company assumes full responsibility and will provide full compensation and medical care to the families of those killed and injured,” the company said in a statement posted on social media. he said.
China Railway International Co., Ltd. on the project’s website. He is listed as a “construction inspection consultant.”
