A crane collapsed at a highway construction site on the outskirts of Bangkok on Thursday, killing two people, Thai police said, just a day after a separate crane accident crushed a train and killed 32 elsewhere in the country.
The latest incident occurred early Thursday morning on the under-construction Rama II Expressway in Samut Sakhon, southwest of the capital. Local police chief Sitthiporn Kasi told AFP that “two (people) dead and no injuries” were reported.
Local media reported that the crane had collapsed near the Paris Inn Garden Hotel, with video footage showing thick clouds of dust and debris strewn across the site after the heavy equipment toppled onto the elevated concrete structure.
The Rama II Expressway has been the focus of several major infrastructure projects, including the construction of toll roads, and has been plagued by repeated fatal accidents in recent years – earning it the grim nickname “Death Road”.
Thursday’s collapse came just one day after a far deadlier incident in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast of Bangkok, where a massive lowering gantry crane fell onto a passenger train below. This accident involving China’s high-speed rail project killed at least 32 people.
Authorities are investigating both incidents as the renewed inspection falls under construction safety standards in Thailand’s major infrastructure projects.
