Probe into Chinese-built high-rise collapse given 7-day deadline

Thailand’s interior minister has ordered investigators to complete a probe into the collapse of a Chinese-built office of the State Audit Office within seven days as four Chinese workers were questioned for removing documents from the site.

China has sent one of its experts to visit the site of the collapse.

A committee had been established to conduct the investigation and was expected to complete its probe in seven days, the interior minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, said on Sunday.

The committee consisted of seasoned engineers from the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning and dependable experts, he added.

“Thailand will soon know why the building collapsed. It was recently constructed, it should have been designed in a way to resist earthquakes,” the interior minister said.

He was talking about the 30-storey building that is supposed to be the new headquarters of the State Audit Office in Chatuchak district of Bangkok. The State Audit Office hired a consortium of Italian-Thai Development Plc and China Railway No.10 Engineering Group to build the 2.1 billion baht building.

On Sunday, the Chinese ambassador in Bangkok, Han Zhiqiang, brought a Chinese expert in tunnel collapse and earthquakes from the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management to meet Mr Anutin.

The Chinese expert visited the site of the collapse after the meeting, the interior minister said. He added that the delegation was told the Chinese contractor was not permitted into the area.

“The earthquake weighted 7.8 on the scale but over 95 percent of the buildings survived it. The State Audit building” was the only one that “collapsed,” Mr Anutin said.

“This building was newly built. That’s supposed to stand up to an earthquake,” he said.

The inquiry would target architects, construction supervisors and builders, Mr Anutin said. Responsibility would have to be shared between the Thai and Chinese partners in the construction consortium,

He also added that rescuers were working to reach trapped victims as quickly as possible.

Pol Maj Gen Noppasin Poonsawat, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said police had interrogated four Chinese men who removed 32 files from containers that were located behind the collapsed building.

The four men had work permits and were employed by a subcontractor of Italian-Thai Development, he said.

The files had documents relating to information about contractors and sub-contractors, said the deputy Bangkok police chief. Police confiscated the documents and released the Chinese men after questioning.

The Chinese men told police that they collected the documents to file for insurance compensation claims. “The further steps are that the complaint will be filed by the Chatuchak district office,” he said.

In Bangkok, governor Chadchart Sittipunt requested that the owners of large buildings, theatres, hotels, billboards and plants check for the strength and safety of their premises within two weeks.

The request applied to:

buildings with a floor height of 23 metre or higher

10,000 squares metres — buildings with space

meeting places accommodating at least 500 or with a minimum of 1,000 square metres

theatres

hotels with at least 80 rooms

service parlours with at least 200 square metres of space

condominium and apartment buildings of at least 5,000 square metres

billboards measuring′heightæ ≥ 15m or areaæ≥ 50㎡

.005 billboard over the rooftop, as long as this is at least 25 square metres