CHON BURI - Ten senior officials of local administrative organisations were hurt when a lift at a Pattaya hotel fell from the seventh floor to the ground floor.
Prapan Prathumchompoo, deputy Bang Lamung district chief, and Pol Maj Chaliew Boonkhum, investigation chief of Pattaya police station, on Tuesday inspected the lift at the Pattaya Centre Hotel on Pattaya beach road in tambon Nong Prue following the incident.
Ten senior officials from several municipalities and tambon administration organisations (TAOs) were hurt when the lift fell down on Monday evening.
The officials were taking the lift from the second floor to their rooms on the seventh floor before the lift had a problem, said Surasak Bureenok, 55, a senior official from Nguaba TAO in Maha Sarakham, who saw the incident.
When the lift arrived at the seventh floor and opened, Somjai Tee-ord, an executive of Ban Pa TAO in Phitsanulok was the first to get out. As soon as he stepped out, the lift suddenly fell, tearing the back of his shirt and taking the other nine officials with it.
Thanakit Akkhradetkunchorn, 51, a senior official from Pongyaek TAO in Chiang Mai’s Mae Rim district, said the lift might have carried the weight exceeding the limit. However, there was no warning sound when the 10 local officials entered it. It took more than 10 minutes for the nine officials to get out of the lift.
The injured were among 124 senior officials of local administrative bodies across the country attending a training session for executives of local bodies held by the Local Personnel Development Institution under the Interior Ministry, said Mr Thanakit.
The hotel management agreed to pay medical bills for the injured officials. The officials decided not to press charges.
Police have charged a hotel representative of reckless, causing physical and mental injuries to others. The hotel would face a fine up to 10,000 baht.