A crane fell on a train with about 200 passengers and crew aboard in northeastern Thailand on Wednesday, killing at least 22 people and injuring dozens of others, the authorities said.
The accident occurred at 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 22 people were killed and about 80 others were injured, said Col. Thatchapon Chinnawongand, the chief of the police station in Sikhio, the district where the tragedy happened. He 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.
Acting 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.
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.
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.
Muktita Suhartono reports on Thailand and Indonesia. She is based in Bangkok.
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