Two people have lost their lives after a towering construction crane toppled onto a busy highway in Thailand, marking yet another grim chapter in a series of deadly construction accidents in the Southeast Asian nation. The incident occurred on Thursday in Samut Sakhon, a suburban district near Bangkok, where the crane was part of work on an expressway project.
Video footage circulating online shows the massive machine crashing down onto the roadway, crushing vehicles and sending up thick clouds of debris and dust. The aftermath underscored how perilous such accidents have become in the rapidly developing country.
Wednesday’s tragedy came on the heels of another collapse in Nakhon Ratchasima province in northeastern Thailand. In that earlier incident, a crane fell onto a moving train, killing at least 32 people and injuring dozens more.
Both construction sites were operated by Italian-Thai Development, one of the country’s largest building firms. In a statement to the Thai stock exchange, the company expressed its “deepest condolences” to the families affected and said it would compensate those injured. The firm also pledged to “review and improve safety measures to be more thorough and stringent, moving forward.
Despite these promises, critics say poor enforcement of safety standards has long made construction work in Thailand dangerous. Over the past seven years, roughly 150 people have died in similar accidents linked to major road projects, with the expressway where Thursday’s collapse occurred even nicknamed “Death Road” due to frequent mishaps.
Thai Prime Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul has vowed to tackle “negligence” in the sector, ordering the transport ministry to consider revoking the builder’s contracts and blacklisting the company behind the tragedies.
