At least 22 people have died and around 80 others suffered injuries after a construction crane collapsed onto a moving train in Thailand.
The train, carrying 195 passengers, derailed when the crane, used to build an elevated highspeed railway, fell onto the moving train as it was traveling from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani province this morning, January 14.
Footage from the scene shows the crane’s broken structure resting on giant concrete pillars above the mangled wreckage of the overturned train.
Local police said there were more bodies that had yet to be retrieved.
Mitr Intrpanya, 54, who was at the scene, described one of the carriages being torn in half by the impact.
He said: “At around 9am, 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.
“The metal from the crane appeared to strike the middle of the second carriage, slicing it in half.”
The accident happened at a construction site that is part of a $5.4-billion project backed by Beijing to build a high-speed rail network in Thailand.
It aims to connect Bangkok to Kunming in China via Laos by 2028 as part of China’s vast “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative.
Thatchapon Chinnawong, the district police chief, said 22 people had been confirmed dead and 80 more were injured.
“We are now asking the hospital to say how many people are in critical condition,” Thatchapon said.
Thailand already has more than 3,000 miles of railway but the run-down network has long driven people to favour travel by road.
Upon completion of the 370-mile high-speed railway, Chinese-made trains will run from Bangkok to Nong Khai, on the Mekong River border with Laos, at up to 150mph.
Industrial and construction site accidents have long been common in Thailand, where lax enforcement of safety regulations often leads to deadly incidents.
