A crane fell on a train with about 200 passengers and crew members aboard in northeastern Thailand on Wednesday, killing at least 31 people and injuring dozens of others, the Thai health ministry said.
The accident occurred about 9 a.m. on a section of track northeast of Bangkok over which an elevated, high-speed railway is being constructed.
Special Express Train No. 21 was traveling in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, carrying 195 people, when the crane collapsed on it, the authorities said. It was about halfway through its voyage between Bangkok and the eastern city of Ubon Ratchathani.
At least 31 people were killed and 64 others were injured, the health ministry said. Col. Thatchapon Chinnawongand, the chief of the police station in Sikhio, the district where the tragedy happened, said the crane fell from a height of around 65 feet.
Images posted by the State Railway of Thailand on social media showed emergency workers searching mangled train cars.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the authorities were investigating the cause and pledged punishment if any wrongdoing was found.
“This incident was an engineering issue, not an act of God or something caused by nature,” he said at a news conference.
Italian-Thai Development PCL, a company involved in the construction, said in a statement on Wednesday that it would take “full responsibility” and “provide full compensation and medical care” to the families of the deceased and the injured. It also said it would support the local authorities.
The construction project was part of a high-speed train network that is expected to extend from Thailand to China via Laos. It is backed by China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Thai news media reported.
Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a news conference, “The Chinese government attaches great importance to the safety of both the project and personnel, and we are also following up on the situation.”
She added, “At present, it appears that the relevant section is being constructed by Thai companies, and the cause of the accident is still under investigation.”
China-backed projects came under scrutiny in Thailand last year, when a building under construction in Bangkok collapsed during an earthquake. Dozens of workers died in that disaster.
Ruoxin Zhang contributed research.
Muktita Suhartono reports on Thailand and Indonesia. She is based in Bangkok.
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