Multiple fatalities as construction crane collapses onto moving train in Thailand

At least 32 people are dead, and dozens are injured after a construction crane train fell on a train,n causing it to derail in northeastern Thailand.

The train was about three hours into its journey from Bangkok to Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani province around 9:10 a.m. Wednesday local time, when it was hit by a large crane, Thirasak Wongsungnoen, a train staff member who was onboard, told CNN. The crane was being used as part of a high-speed rail project.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul offered his condolences to the victims’ families in an interview on Wednesday. He said the cause of the incident was under investigation.

Photos and videos from the scene showed a broken crane on the train tracks and damaged carriages flipped onto their sides, as rescuers searched through tangled steel and debris.

At least 66 people were injured in the accident, eight of them critically, according to the Nakhon Ratchasima Provincial Public Health Office.

The three-carriage train was carrying around 200 people and traveling at about 120 kilometers (75 miles) per hour when it was struck and derailed. The second and third carriages were the worst affected, ed and the crash sparked a fire in the second carriage, Thirasak said.

Thirasak said he rushed to assist injured passengers, but the fire had spread, blocking access to the second carriage.

One resident recalled seeing smoke before discovering the train’s second carriage had split in half. “I saw smoke rising, so I came out to look. I heard a loud noise, so I rode my motorcycle over,” Suphan Imjantuek, 52, told Reuters.

“When I arrived, I saw the damaged train. I ran to check and saw many people lying there. I went to the second carriage, which was split in half, and helped rescue people together with my younger brother, my brother-in-law, and volunteers, about five or six of us, helping inside the carriage.”

The crane that collapsed was being used to build an elevated high-speed railway segment, part of a Thai-Chinese project linking the Thai capital, Bangkok, ok to the northeastern province of Nong Khai, bordering Laos. The project is associated with Beijing’s plan to connect China and Southeast Asia under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Italian-Thai Development PCL, the Thai company that was operating the crane and one of the largest construction firms in the country, issued a statement expressing its deepest condolences in the wake of the deadly incident.

The company also asserted its responsibility to provide support and compensation to the victims and their families, as well as its willingness to cooperate with authorities.

Ubon Ratchathani is a province in Thailand’s Isan region on the border with Laos and Cambodia. Unlike the train lines that run north to south, the line to Ubon Ratchathani is not especially popular with tourists.