Fatal back-to-back crane failures ‘tied to same Thai firm’

BANGKOK

The collapse of a highway construction crane killed two people near Bangkok on Thursday, 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 yesterday, unleashing clouds of dust as well rubble across the area as several vehicles pulled over or reversed to avoid falling debris.

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, in Nakhon Ratchasima province, derailing a passenger train below and killing 32 of nearly 200 people on board.

"Yes, it is Italian-Thai. I still do not understand what happened," Phiphat told local media yesterday.

"We have to find out the facts, whether it was an accident or something else," he said.

The company, one of Thailand's biggest construction firms, has seen several deadly accidents at its sites in recent years.

The crane that fell yesterday morning at the under-construction Rama II Expressway in Samut Sakhon province, outside Bangkok, left two people dead.

The Rama II Expressway, an important highway linking the capital to Thailand's south, hosts several major infrastructure projects, including tollway construction.

Major 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."