Crane collapse in Bangkok suburbs kills two: Police

BANGKOK: A crane at a highway construction site in the Bangkok suburbs collapsed on Thursday (Jan 15), killing two people, a local police chief told AFP, one day after a crane fell on a train in Thailand, killing 32.

The crane fell Thursday morning at the under-construction Rama II Expressway in Samut Sakhon province, outside Bangkok, Police Colonel Sitthiporn Kasi said.

The crane, which was involved in the construction of the elevated highway, fell onto the road beneath, Kasi said.

Another police official from the station told Reuters that five people had also been injured in the accident.  

Local media reported that the incident occurred in front of the Paris Inn Garden Hotel, with footage showing clouds of dust and rubble scattered across the site after a massive crane collapsed onto an elevated concrete structure.

The Rama II Expressway hosts several major infrastructure projects, including tollway construction, which has seen several deadly accidents in recent years, earning it the nickname "Death Road".

In March last year, a concrete beam forming part of an under-construction elevated roadway collapsed on Rama II, killing several people.

A crane collapse in November 2024 killed at least three workers, while local media reported two more deadly accidents in May 2023 and January 2024.

The incident on Thursday followed a similar crane collapse in Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeast of the capital Bangkok, one day earlier.

A massive launching gantry crane, used in the construction of a Chinese-backed high-speed rail project, collapsed on Wednesday morning onto a passenger train below, killing 32 people.

Of the 195 passengers on the train, 66 were also injured, authorities said. An investigation is ongoing.