AFTER yet another construction accident occurred on Rama II road before dawn today (Nov. 29) with a steel launching truss of an elevated road being built near Mahachai market in Samut Sakhon collapsing and killing five people and injuring 10 others, statistics show that there have been 2,244 accidents on this road over the past six years, TV Channel 7, Amarin TV and Naewna newspaper said.
These statistics, released by the Highways Department, show that from 2018 to Jan. this year 132 people died and 1,305 were injured in accidents on this road. Details are as follows:
– 2018: 491 accidents, 38 deaths, 268 injuries;
– 2019: 415 accidents, 23 deaths, 275 injuries;
– 2020: 406 accidents, 20 deaths, 277 injuries;
– 2021: 234 accidents, 21 deaths, 116 injuries;
– 2022: 434 accidents, 16 deaths, 229 injuries;
– 2023: 263 accidents, 13 deaths, 139 injuries
– 2024: one death, one injury followed by today accident in which five died and 10 got injured.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who is in Chiang Mai for a mobile cabinet meeting, sent Deputy Prime Minister/Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit back to Bangkok to check the accident on Rama II road.
Suriya said that Paetongtarn is very concerned about this accident and the ministry will now jot down details of construction accidents where there are fatalities and will coordinate with the Finance Ministry’s Comptroller General’s Department on taking action against the contractors.
Regarding this accident the ministry will ban the contractor from taking up any construction jobs for two to four years but details have still to be worked out with the Comptroller General’s Department, he added.
If no measures are taken, contractors would not be interested in improving security and this measure would help reduce accidents and construction delays, he pointed out.
Of the five people who died in today’s accident, all were men with one being a Thai and the remaining four Myanmar nationals.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page; The steel launching truss of an elevated road being on Rama II road that collapsed at around 4 a.m. this morning, Nov. 29, 2024. Photos: Amarin TV
Insert: Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra voicing her concern about today’s accident. Photo: Amarin TV
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