Second inquiry into collapsed bridge

Second inquiry into collapsed bridge

Ayutthaya governor Witthaya Piewpong on Wednesday said he had set up a fact-finding committee into Sunday's deadly collapse of the suspension Rattanakosin Bridge in Tha Rua district, which killed four people and left 23 others injured.

Photo by Sunthon Pongpao

The dead included two children, aged 10 and 14 years.

The panel comprises engineers and legal experts and is chaired by the Ayutthaya province chief public prosecutor, Mr Witthaya said.

The Tha Luang municipality had obtained a 8.2 million baht from the provincial administration organisation (PAO) to build the bridge over the Pasak River, and took charge of supervising the construction.

It hired Dee Nice (2009) Co to build it. 

Mr Witthaya said the municipal office attached standard suspension bridge layout sheets belonging to the Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning to its proposal documents when it asked for the funds from the PAO.

Documents also show the construction was under the supervision of the department’s professional engineers. 

Construction of the bridge was completed in July 2012. In December, the structure was hit by a boat, but no repair work was carried out until February of this year.

Soldiers and rescue volunteers have recovered a total of 13 motorcycles from the bottom of the Pasak River, including two raised by floating crane on Wednesday.

Clearance work continues as the team works to remove all debris from the collapsed concrete and steel structure of the bridge from the water to allow passage of merchant vessels which use the river. 

On Tuesday, officials from the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) began to investigate the collapse of the bridge, to see whether corruption had affected recent repair work on the span.

Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill

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