32 people died in Thailand after a crane collapsed onto a train

The enormous crane was being used on the construction site of a vast railway project backed by China, managed there by a Thai company involved in several similar accidents in the past.

His fall caused a train traveling between Bangkok and the northeast of the country to derail below.

At least 32 people were killed and more than 60 injured, including seven seriously, local health authorities said, adding that three people were missing.

It was around 9:00 AM when Mitr Intrpanya, a resident of Nakhon Ratchasima province, more than 200 km from the capital, heard "a loud noise followed by two explosions".

"The metal of the crane seemed to have sliced ​​the second wagon in two," testified the 54-year-old man.

While visiting Thailand, Taew Eimertenbrink was on board the train to travel to her hometown with her German husband.

"I was asleep. He was asleep. A metal bar fell on him. He was killed instantly," the 63-year-old woman recounted from her hospital bed. "I thought traveling by train was the safest way..."

Thai high-speed train

The crane was part of a colossal construction project, launched in 2017 a decade late, for the commissioning of Thailand's first high-speed train.

This project, worth more than five billion dollars, is expected to connect Bangkok to Kunming in southern China via Laos by 2028.

It is supported by China as part of its "Belt and Road Initiative," aimed at improving its trade and strengthening its influence in Southeast Asia and the rest of the world.

In order to prevent this railway from increasing its dependence on Beijing at the expense of its good relations with the United States, Thailand insisted on bearing the entire cost.

China is still providing technical assistance, but "it appears that the section in question is being built by a Thai company," commented the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is Italian-Thai Development, which announced in a statement that it would assume "the responsibility of compensating the families of the victims and covering the medical expenses of the injured".

Frequent accidents

The Thai national railway company said it had ordered Italian-Thai to suspend work until its investigation is complete.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters at the scene of the accident that it was "clearly the company's fault".

He had stated earlier from Bangkok that it was "time to change the law in order to blacklist construction companies responsible for repeated accidents".

Italian-Thai and its director were among more than 20 people and entities charged in August in a case related to the collapse of a building under construction in Bangkok during an earthquake. Approximately 90 people died, mostly construction workers.

The company has been involved in several other accidents in recent years, including the fatal collapse in 2017 of a crane used for the construction of the capital's elevated metro.

Industrial accidents, accidents on construction sites and in transport are relatively frequent in Thailand due to a sometimes lax application of safety rules.