At least 22 people were killed and 80 others injured after a construction crane collapsed onto a passenger train in northeastern Thailand on Wednesday.
The accident took place in Sikhio district of Nakhon Ratchasima province, around 230 kilometres northeast of Bangkok. The passenger train was travelling from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani when the crane fell onto the moving carriages, causing the train to derail and overturn.
Also Read | It's a big problem, says Trump as Greenland rejects US and chooses Denmark
Live visuals aired by local television channels showed a brightly coloured passenger train lying on its side, with smoke rising from the wreckage as emergency responders worked at the site. Authorities confirmed that the fire caused by the impact has been extinguished and rescue operations are continuing.
“Twenty-two people were killed and 80 were injured,” Thatchapon Chinnawong, a local police chief in Nakhon Ratchasima province, told AFP.
Rescue operations underway, identification ongoing
The provincial public relations department said in a Facebook post that four bodies have been recovered so far, while efforts to locate and identify other victims were continuing.
Thailand’s Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said that 195 passengers were on board the train at the time of the accident. He added that authorities were coordinating with hospitals and disaster response teams to assist the injured and confirm identities of those killed.
A local resident, Mitr Intrpanya (54), who witnessed the incident, described the moment of impact. “At around 9 am, I heard a loud noise, like something sliding down from above, followed by two explosions. When I went to see what had happened, I found the crane sitting on a passenger train with three carriages,” he told AFP. He added that the crane’s metal structure appeared to strike the middle of the second carriage, slicing it in half.
Also Read | How Rs 1,000 turns you into a ‘millionaire’ in Iran: Inside the collapse of the Iranian rial
Officials said the crane was part of a $5.4-billion high-speed rail project, backed by China. The railway line is planned to connect Bangkok with Kunming in China via Laos by 2028, under China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Investigations are under way to determine how the crane collapsed and whether safety protocols were followed at the construction site.
