BANGKOK — One month has passed since the State Audit Office (SAO) building under construction in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district collapsed following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar, more than 1,300 kilometers away. The search for workers trapped beneath the rubble, investigations into the cause, and compensation efforts continue.
“After one month, officials still have more than 100% motivation to work. The families of victims are part of what keeps us pushing forward every day, to complete the work as quickly as possible and return the bodies of victims to their homes,” said Suriyachai Rawiwan, Director of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office.
As of April 29, the death toll stands at 66, with 28 people still missing and 9 injured, from a total of 103 people affected by the incident.
Recovery Efforts Continue
Suriyachai reported that search teams found three major cases Monday night, including one complete body and two other significant findings, along with about five smaller cases of body parts. All were discovered in the stairwell area of Zone D, where officials have cleared debris down to the first floor and in some areas reached the basement.
Officials are working to remove steel debris to access areas where victims may have attempted to escape through connecting passages. They’re also addressing challenges in demolishing Zone D2, which adjoins Zone C, after finding relatively intact floor slabs stacked on top of each other across 4-5 floors, similar to a “pancake” collapse seen in the early stages.
Heavy machinery with impact hammers will be used to break the concrete into pieces for removal. Officials believe this will lead to finding more victims in Zones B and C.
Govt Compensation Underway
Marasri Jairangsi, Secretary-General of the Social Security Office (SSO), reported that in addition to the SAO building collapse, seven other deaths occurred in Bangkok on March 28. Over the past month, the SSO has received 573 inquiries through various channels.
The SSO has approved compensation payments for 24 cases totaling 27,859,083.58 baht ($834,780), including:
- Funeral expenses of 50,000 baht ($1,500) per person, totaling 1,200,000 baht
- Monthly compensation at 70% of monthly wages for 10 years, totaling 25,532,304 baht
- Old-age pension fund payments of 1,126,779.58 baht ($33,765)
For those still missing under the rubble, if bodies aren’t recovered, beneficiaries will receive the same compensation as for confirmed deaths: 50,000 baht for funeral expenses plus monthly compensation at a rate of 70% of monthly wages for 10 years.
However, approval requires waiting 120 days from the incident date. The SSO estimates total compensation will reach approximately 54,000,000 baht ($1.6 million).
Compensation from ITD-CREC No.10 Announced
On the evening of April 29, Police Colonel Taweesong Soodsong, Minister of Justice, and Police Lieutenant Yutthana Praedam, Director-General of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) , jointly announced that Italian-Thai and China Railway No.10 (ITD-CREC No.10) would provide humanitarian compensation of 1 million baht to each family of the deceased, and 200,000 baht to each injured person, not including medical expenses.
This assistance is offered on humanitarian grounds and does not create any binding obligation regarding legal proceedings, whether criminal or civil cases.
China Offers No-Strings Assistance
Wichian Chuptaisong, President of the Lawyers Council of Thailand, who has been appointed as intermediary between the Chinese government, contractor representatives, and victim representatives, also stated that both Chinese government representatives and contractors wish to negotiate with victim representatives to provide compensation to all deceased and injured victims without requiring them to waive their rights to pursue legal action.
Legal proceedings will take two tracks. For criminal cases, the Lawyers Council must wait for the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to gather evidence and submit opinions to prosecutors. Victims can request to join as co-plaintiffs in certain charges or file cases themselves.
For civil cases, the Lawyers Council can provide lawyers to file civil lawsuits, including class action suits similar to a previous case involving black-chinned tilapia.
Design Modifications Revealed
One month after the collapse, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra still awaits answers about why only the SAO building collapsed. The Department of Public Works has indicated that a thorough investigation will take approximately 90 days to ensure detailed, careful, transparent, and fair conclusions.
The Department has appointed four investigation committees totaling 22 people to determine the true cause of the collapse. Currently, the committees are simulating the earthquake through 3D modeling to analyze the building structure and have called in the SAO building designers for information following questions about modifications to the elevator shaft that may have created asymmetry in the building.
On April 29, Teera Waratthanasup, a board member of Meinhardt (Thailand) Ltd. and head designer, confirmed during questioning that there were modifications to reduce the CORE LIFT wall thickness from 0.30m to 0.25m in the corridor area, with added reinforcing steel to maintain strength according to engineering principles. He insisted these changes complied with legal requirements.
Italian-Thai Knew China Railway Was Chinese
Recent investigation developments, especially over the past two weeks, have focused on the nominee case being pursued by the DSI, which has already charged three people: executives of China Railway No. 10 (Thailand) and Thai shareholders.
On April 29, representatives from Italian-Thai Development PCL, which jointly undertook construction with China Railway, were summoned for questioning. Kriangsak Kovadtana, Senior Executive Vice President of Italian-Thai, briefly told reporters while arriving to testify that Italian-Thai was well aware that China Railway No. 10 was a Chinese company.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Amorn Hongsrithong, Director of the Division of Cases Involving Bidding to Government Agencies, revealed that officials questioned Italian-Thai on all relevant issues, including bid purchases, auction participation, joint venture arrangements, work distribution, construction operations, and compensation arrangements.
The joint venture between Italian-Thai and China Railway initially appeared to involve a Thai company, but within China Railway, the ownership consisted of 51% Thai nationals and 49% foreigners, which DSI has already investigated. The current investigation focuses on whether the joint venture truly qualifies as Thai-owned.
Engineers Under Investigation
DSI has also scheduled interviews with engineers under the PKW joint venture who served as weekly supervisors, approximately 20-30 weeks’ worth, with recurring names among this group totaling 51 people. Currently, 40 have been formally invited for questioning, with interviews scheduled at a rate of 10 per day.
This follows an April 14 complaint by engineer Somkiat Choosuangsouk, who reported that his signature had been forged as a project supervisor under the PKW joint venture for five years.
“The engineer investigation will focus on names appearing as project supervisors, with signatures as weekly supervisors across multiple weeks, to determine their involvement and what actions they’ve taken. We cannot yet predict whether all of them were victims of forgery and impersonation,” said Police Lieutenant Colonel Amorn.
Regarding rumors that an engineer working on the collapsed building held a Chinese student visa, DSI found this was not true. Instead, the engineer had a valid temporary work visa.
Moreover, DSI transported 100 boxes of documents seized from 24 containers used as temporary offices at the SAO construction site. These documents relate to construction processes, supervision, financial disbursements, and work records. DSI will arrange for representatives from the SAO and the joint venture to jointly examine these documents in detail to incorporate them into the case file.
SAO Under Scrutiny
In addition to the police investigation of companies involved in the construction, the State Audit Office itself is facing major scrutiny from society. After being an agency that has strictly audited other organizations, it built a construction project worth over 2 billion baht ($63 million) without requiring permission from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, as it was a government building.
Meanwhile, social media has revealed images of furniture and various amenities ordered by the SAO, as well as construction plans for a sky lounge on the 137-meter-tall building, all of which are luxurious enough to spark widespread criticism.
SAO executives have responded with a single statement, insisting that they did everything correctly according to legal procedures.
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