BANGKOK: A Thai judge issued arrest warrants for 17 people on Thursday for the collapse of a Bangkok building, which had fallen in a big earthquake and left dozens of workers dead. When a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck neighboring Myanmar on March 28, killing dozens in Thailand’s wartorn neighbor, the 30-storey building being constructed to building the State Audit Office was quickly reduced to dust. The decline of the building was the only building in Bangkok, and the acceleration and suddenness of the fall have raised concerns about the caliber of the building.
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According to Police Lieutenant-General Siam Boonsom, a Thai prosecutor has issued arrest warrants for three parties, including 17 people, connected to the collapse. He declined to provide specifics about the people who were the targets of the warrants, but reports from Thai media claimed that Italian-Thai Development ( ITD), one of the companies that were constructing the tower, had been given their names. Seven people are also missing, according to authorities who claim they have recovered 89 bodies from the wreckage of the fell building. A Chinese company, one of Thailand’s largest construction companies, and ITD were partners in the job. Some of the material used in first tests conducted by Thai security officials last month on steel rebars and other recovered concrete was found to be subpar.
