Updated ,first published
The company behind the section of Chinese-backed high-speed rail in Thailand where dozens of people were killed in a train disaster on Wednesday is the same developer blamed for last year’s deadly office tower collapse in Bangkok.
The struggling Italian-Thai Development Public Company Ltd (ITD), one of Thailand’s biggest developers, said it was sorry after a crane fell onto a moving passenger train in the central province of Nakhon Ratchasima, killing at least 31 of the almost 200 people on board and injuring more than 60.
The three-carriage train was travelling from the capital, Bangkok, to Ubon Ratchathani province in the country’s east when the impact caused it to derail and partially catch on fire just after 9am (1pm AEDT).
Images and footage from the crash site, more than 200 kilometres from Bangkok, showed carriages overturned, smoke, and rescue workers trying to extract casualties.
Authorities said the crane was being used to build an elevated section of a new Thai-Chinese high-speed rail project, which is intended to link the capital of Bangkok to the northeastern province of Nong Khai and, ultimately, China via Laos.
ITD is the contractor for the Lam Takhong–Sikhio section, where the incident happened, according to the megaproject’s website.
“Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited expresses its deepest condolences for the loss of life and injuries … the company takes full responsibility and will provide full compensation and medical care to the families of the deceased and the injured,” the company said in a statement posted to social media.
The project’s website lists China Railway International Co., Ltd as the “construction supervision consultant”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing on Wednesday that “the relevant section was under construction by a Thai enterprise” and that the investigation was ongoing.
More than a dozen people from ITD, including its president, Premchai Karnasuta, were charged last year after an under-construction office tower planned for the state audit office collapsed in Bangkok in late March during an earthquake.
At least 89 construction workers were killed.
It was the only building in the city destroyed in the magnitude 7.7 earthquake, which had its epicentre in central Myanmar. Investigators alleged the build failed to meet Thai standards. ITD was constructing the tower with China Railway No.10 company and a joint venture called PKW.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who is campaigning for re-election next month, said he had heard the rail contractor was the same company involved in “several incidents before”.
“Accidents like this can only happen due to negligence, skipped steps, deviations from the design, or the use of incorrect materials,” BBC Thai reported him saying.
The Thai government said last year that more than a third of construction had been completed in the segment connecting Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima, and the entire line to Nong Khai at the border with Laos would be ready by 2030.
with Reuters
Zach Hope is South-East Asia correspondent. He is a former reporter at the Brisbane Times.Connect via email.
