PeterRS Posted 20 hours ago Posted 20 hours ago Yesterday afternoon a construction crane working on an overhead railway collapsed and fell onto a moving train below. The train was en route from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani and was quite close to its destination. Passengers were mostly students and manual workers. 32 were killed and 66 others injured. After being crushed, some carriages caught fire. 171 were aboard the train. Local outlet The Nation reported that the incident occurred while the crane was lifting a large concrete section which dropped on to the train, causing several coaches to derail . . . "Accidents like this can only happen due to negligence, skipped steps, deviations from the design, or the use of incorrect materials," [Prime Minister] Anutin said. The crane was being used to build an overhead railway that is part of a US$5.4bn (£4bn) China-backed project to link Bangkok with neighbouring Laos, where a Chinese-built high-speed line is already running to south-western China . . . It seems that the Italian-Thai Development company was in charge of that section of the overhead railway construction. Typically in Thailand major infrasructure projects are farmed out among various companies as a number of politicians are always involved in parcelling out the land. Corruption has always payed its part! One of Thailand's biggest contractors, the company was responsible for the construction of a Bangkok skyscraper that collapsed last March during an earthquake. Last year the company's president and several designers and engineers were charged with professional negligence over that incident. Some have denied wrongdoing. The Chinese embassy in Thailand said that no Chinese construction companies or workers were involved in the collapse, Chinese state media reported. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqz7v1507ro jimmie50, BL8gPt, vinapu and 2 others 5 Quote
vinapu Posted 19 hours ago Posted 19 hours ago Immense tragedy. I just heard on TV that death toll raised to 40. BL8gPt 1 Quote
jimmie50 Posted 18 hours ago Posted 18 hours ago How terrible. Didn't see anything in the news about this here in Denver. Will there be some sort of investigation to determine the exact cause? Quote
Keithambrose Posted 14 hours ago Posted 14 hours ago 4 hours ago, jimmie50 said: How terrible. Didn't see anything in the news about this here in Denver. Will there be some sort of investigation to determine the exact cause? US media not exactly renowned for reporting foreign news! As far as an investigation goes, don't hold your breath, depends who is really responsible for this tragedy, or whether a convenient scapegoat can be found. floridarob and Vessey 2 Quote
PeterRS Posted 13 hours ago Author Posted 13 hours ago 4 hours ago, jimmie50 said: Will there be some sort of investigation to determine the exact cause? Allegedly it's already started. The Construction Company came out quickly and said compensation would immediately be offered. But what can compensate for the loss of a young life? And how much will be offered. Pretty much a pittance is my guess. It reminds me of that hit-and-run murder of a traffic policeman on Sukhumvit at 5:00 in the morning. He had ben driving at over 100 kph and found to have drugs and alcohol in his system. The driver was eventually apprehended after his mega-rich Yoovihaya family had ried to persuade the authorities that one of the family's drivers had actually been at the wheel - of a Ferrari? Estimates are the car was being driven at 174 kph. The policeman's body was dragged for over 100 meters. The driver was Vorayuth Yoovihaya whose grandfather had been in at the start of the Red Bull empire and was one of Thailand's richest men. For 8 years he failed to turn up to scheduled court hearings on his arrest warrant, yet at the same time was seen galivanting around the world by means of a private jet. He was even seen in Thailand more than once. 12 years after the event, the Justice Department finally got around to jailing just seven functionaries. As a Bangkok Post article wrote on 1 April 1917 - The boss walks free. The boss is the boss. The boss dines in France and snowboards in Japan. The boss rules the road and tramples the law. In the pyramid of privilege, the boss stays on top. In the food chain of injustice . . . The degree of corruption in this case is mind-boggling. It had Thai social media up in arms several times. But this is Thailand - one law for the rich, one for the poor and tourists. The statute of limitations on all of those crimes has long passed. Freedom for that family was a matter of pennies! And Thailand's rich look after themselves. That is why inner city expresways are carved up amongst several companies. Not for the sake of economy - not a bit of it. Purely so that more poiticians and others can get their hands on a decent chunk of the profits. As for the poor widow of the murdered policeman, Wichian Klanprasert, and her children? The maximum the family was prepared to offer was Bt. 3 million, this for the life of a 47 year old Police Sergeant Major and given on condition the grieving widow did and her children not bring any form of criminal charges against members of the Yoovihaya family - yet another mega-injustice. Quote
PeterRS Posted 7 hours ago Author Posted 7 hours ago There has now been a second fatal crash, with yet another crane crashing to the ground. This time on an expressway construction in Samut Sakhon not far from Bangkok. This time a crane collapsed on to a highway. Two dead so far. Death toll in the earlier crash involving the train stands at 32 according to the BBC website as of about three hours ago. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20g7n7yd9do jimmie50 1 Quote
jimmie50 Posted 6 hours ago Posted 6 hours ago 7 hours ago, Keithambrose said: US media not exactly renowned for reporting foreign news! Yes, so true. Unfortunately, the only thing that seems to make it into the news these days is anything related to the orange bobble head. In addition, even news organizations are so fearful of his wrath that you cannot trust or believe most of what you read these days. I had no idea corruption was so bad in Thailand. Then again, it should come as no surprise that Thailand would be an exception to the norms of the world. Just proves that money talks. Certainly doesn't make it right. Regardless of compensation offered, how can you put a price on human life? Such a tragedy indeed. Quote
