The Huai Khwang district office has ordered the construction of a housing project in the Rama 9 area to be suspended for 30 days and has prevented all unauthorised access to a building which collapsed yesterday afternoon (Sunday), injuring five workers.

Paitoon Ngammuk, director of Huai Khwang district office, said that they will take legal action against the project engineer for alleged negligence, after it was discovered that he was not at the construction site at the time of the accident.

He said that only some foremen were there, to supervise workers doing the construction.

Building inspectors from the district office, as well as representatives from Thailand’s Council of Engineers and the Engineering Institute, inspected the collapsed building today, as well as other buildings currently under construction.

Associate Professor Siriwat Chaichana, vice president of the Engineering Institute of Thailand, said the collapse of the building might be related to the scaffolding on the 4th floor, was unable to withstand the weight of the cement.

He also said that the workers might have been tired, after having worked since the morning, and could not evenly pave the cement floor quickly enough.

Whether the structure of the building was up to the standard is yet to be determined by inspectors from various units.

Five migrant workers injured in building collapse in Bangkok’s Rama 9 area