In yesterday's incident, a crane was working on the construction of a viaduct for a high-speed railway between Thailand and China when it fell onto a train passing underneath, 250 kilometers from Bangkok. Thai authorities are investigating both incidents in a country where accidents on construction projects are frequent, partly due to the lax enforcement of safety regulations. According to the latest count from Thailand's Ministry of Health, at least 32 people lost their lives in the disaster and more than fifty were injured. In both cases, according to Thai Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn in a television interview today, the projects were linked to the local company Italian-Thai Development. "We don't know exactly what happened with the company (...). If the situation continues, we may have to announce a temporary national closure of all its activities," he added. This company, along with a subsidiary of China Railway Group (also behind the derailed railway project), was also managing the building under construction that collapsed in Bangkok during an earthquake with an epicenter in Myanmar last March, with dozens of fatalities. Emergency teams at the accident site. Two people died and one was injured after a crane building an elevated bridge collapsed onto a road on the outskirts of Bangkok, a day after a similar incident affected a passenger train, with at least 32 dead in the country's northeast. "Two people died and one is injured," police officer Saranyapong Aonsingh told EFE, adding that security personnel are at the scene. According to reports from Thai rescue teams and firefighters on their Facebook account, the crane collapsed around 9:15 local time (2:15 GMT) for reasons still unknown on a construction site on the Rama II highway in Samut Sakhon province, on the outskirts of Bangkok, hitting two cars. The accident occurred just a day after another crane fell, for reasons also not yet revealed, onto a train traveling from the Thai capital to Ubon Ratchatani (northeast), with 171 people on board at the time of the event, causing it to derail and catch fire on the spot. Emergency teams at the accident site.
