Korat train crash

[tamada]

Two of the 32 victims weren't Thai. A German and Korean also died. Apparently the Korean was returning to Ubon from Bangkok with his Thai bride of less than 24-hours, having just got married in Bangkok.

The acting PM has publicly decried the sums being offered by SRT to the victims families. They offered 40 k baht for immediate disbursement and a further 40 k baht at some point in the future. Anutin has suggested 7 figure compensation for each.

SRT say they are going to sue the contractor. It was disappointing to see that 8 hours after the accident, neither SRT nor the contractor had made any statement, not even an acknowledgement of the accident happening.

Loads of righteous indignation and upset netizens, but in the same way as things all went quiet within a month of those school children being burned alive in a daytime bus inferno, I feel this will similarly become just another unfortunate happenstance that could easily have been prevented.

[mak]

Caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered the Ministry of Transport to terminate two contracts with Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) following crane collapse incidents that resulted in over 30 deaths.

[mak]

ITD responds to crane collapse incident, confirms contracts remain active and safety measures will be reviewed
FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2026.

[mak]

Northeast train detour.

[mak]

Rama II yesterday. Another ITD construction site.

[mak]

Families of 30 victims killed in the January 14 crane collapse in Sikhio, Nakhon Ratchasima, received compensation totalling THB 1.49 million per person at a Government House ceremony chaired by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

[tamada]

Families of 30 victims killed in the January 14 crane collapse in Sikhio, Nakhon Ratchasima, received compensation totalling THB 1.49 million per person at a Government House ceremony chaired by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

That'll garner at least 30 votes next month.

But the right thing has been done for the victims families. Since he's only caretaker PM, I wonder if any of this money came, or will be extracted from, SRT budgets or clawed back from any insurance the state entity and contractors may have had.

Meanwhile, over in Spain, two fatal train accidents in three days. The first one claiming at least 42 lives may be due to a rail-jointing 'fishplate" going missing on a high-speed rail that had been routinely inspected. The latest one, with a single fatality (the driver) when the train ran into a landslide of earth apparently dislodged by heavy rainfall.

[mak]

The deadly crane accident in Nakhon Ratchasima province last week was caused by on-site staff "failing to notify" that construction was underway, despite the contract requiring notice before trains pass, Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Friday.

[tamada]

The deadly crane accident in Nakhon Ratchasima province last week was caused by on-site staff "failing to notify" that construction was underway, despite the contract requiring notice before trains pass, Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Friday.

Oh. The investigation is over already?

Let the finger pointing begin.

[Fuzzy Ken]

Interesting!
Have the investigations concluded that the crane, with its load, would not have collapsed if the train had not been there? If that is the case, was the train service, rather than the contractor, the cause of the crash?