Today January 14th, at Around 9.30am (3.30 am in Italy), one was consumed railway tragedy in Thailand, when one crane collapsed on a moving traindoing it derail and causing a fire inside the stricken carriage. According to what was reported by the international media, there is talk of at least 22 victims and of 79 injured out of a total of 195 people on board.
The train was headed from Bangkok towards the province of Ubon Ratchathani, in the north-east of the country, and was affected by the accident at the height of Ban Thanon Khot, in Nakhon Ratchasima province. The crane involved in the collapse was working on a new high-speed rail line which, once completed, will connect Kumming, China, with the Thai capital. Specifically, it seems that the crane, at the time of the accident, was lifting a large concrete block: this, falling, would then have hit some of the carriages, causing their collapse derailment.
According to what Thirasak Wongsoongnern, a member of the train staff, told local media, at the time of impact the vehicle was traveling at a speed of approximately 120 km/h – although the exact reconstruction of events will be clarified in the coming weeks after in-depth investigations by the police.
One of the aspects that is causing the most discussion – in addition to the tragedy itself – concerns the construction company, the Italian-Thai Development. In fact, this is the same company that built the building that collapsed last March following an earthquake with its epicenter in Myanmar, over 1000 km away. The BBC said they have contacted them for more information on the matter but, at the time of writing this article, no statement has yet been made on the matter.
