A train derailed in north-eastern Thailand early on Jan 14 after a construction crane fell on three of its carriages, killing at least 28 people and injuring dozens, Thai police said.
The accident took place at the Sikhio district of Nakhon Ratchasima province, 230km north-east of Bangkok, on a train bound for Ubon Ratchathani province.
The Health Ministry said in a statement that 28 were killed and 64 people were hospitalised, seven in serious condition.
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said in a statement that there were 195 people on board, adding that he had ordered a thorough investigation to be carried out.
Those killed were in two of the three carriages hit by the crane, he said.
The accident happened at a construction site that is part of a more than US$5 billion (S$6.4 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.
Images shared by the Transport Ministry showed carriages overturned next to shrubland and firefighters extinguishing a blaze as smoke billowed out.
Footage of the crash site verified by Reuters shows rescue workers trying to extract casualties from one of the buckled carriages, with some badly injured passengers already being loaded into ambulances.
Mr Mitr Intrpanya, who was at the scene, said he 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 54-year-old said. “The metal from the crane appeared to strike the middle of the second carriage, slicing it in half.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press briefing that the Chinese government attached great importance to the safety of projects
She said: “At present, it seems that the relevant section was under construction by a Thai enterprise. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.”
Upon completion of the 600km, high-speed railway, Chinese-made trains will run from Bangkok to Nong Khai, on the Mekong River border with Laos, at up to 250kmh.
The government said in 2025 that more than a third of construction had been completed in the segment connecting Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima, and the whole line to Nong Khai at the border with Laos would be ready by 2030.
Engineering consultant Theerachote Rujiviphat, an adviser on the high-speed project, told Agence France-Presse the Thai company contracted to build the section of the high-speed rail where the crane fell, Italian-Thai Development, was solely responsible for its collapse.
Mr Theerachote, from the China Railway Design Corporation, said the launching crane that fell onto the existing rail tracks also belonged to Italian-Thai Development.
“It is the only company in charge. A similar accident also happened a few years ago under their responsibility,” he added.
A representative for Italian-Thai Development, one of Thailand’s biggest construction firms, said the company could not immediately comment.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the authorities must determine the cause of the crane collapse and hold those responsible to account.
“These kind of incidents happen very regularly,” he told reporters in Bangkok.
“I have heard that it is the same company (involved in previous accidents). It is time to change the law to blacklist construction companies that are repeatedly responsible for accidents.”
Italian-Thai Development and its director were among more than 20 people and firms indicted in August in a case linked to the collapse of a Bangkok high-rise in an earthquake. The collapse killed around 90 people, mostly construction workers.
Thailand has around 5,000km of railway but the run-down network has long driven people to favour travel by road.
Industrial and construction site accidents are common in Thailand, where lax enforcement of safety regulations has led to deadly incidents.
In 2023, a freight train killed eight people after it struck a pickup truck crossing railway tracks in eastern Thailand.
