In the latest development of the collapse of the 30-story Audit Bureau building in Bangkok, Thailand, the court has ordered the arrest of 17 individuals involved in the case.
On Thursday, May 15th, the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) in the capital said that the Thai court issued arrest warrants for three groups and a total of 17 individuals involved in the collapse of the National Audit Bureau’s building under construction.
Siam Boonsom, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, stated that after a preliminary examination and hearing witness testimonies, the investigation committee found that the collapsed building’s design did not comply with department regulations or industry standards.
Following a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Myanmar on March 28th, which was felt in Thailand, the 30-story National Audit Bureau building in Bangkok collapsed, being the only Thai building to collapse during the earthquake, raising doubts about the quality of construction.
Investigators found that the location of the elevator shaft was not at the center of the building but positioned towards the rear edge. This misplacement led to the deviation of the structural center of rotation from the geometric center. When the earthquake struck and the building shook, the elevator shaft and foundation columns collapsed almost simultaneously, causing the entire building to rapidly fall vertically.
Furthermore, cement samples extracted from the rubble did not meet the requirements of kilograms per square centimeter (KSC) standard, and a steel inspection revealed discrepancies from the approved construction plan.
The police forensic office confirmed that the signature of a certain professional engineer in official documents was forged and did not match the verified handwriting.
The search and rescue operation at the Audit Bureau building have been concluded. Authorities in Thailand recovered 89 bodies from the collapsed building’s debris, with seven people still missing.
The investigation committee categorizes the individuals involved in the building collapse into three groups:
1. Design companies
This group includes Forum Architect and Meinhardt (Thailand), the two companies contracted by the Audit Bureau. A total of six individuals in this group, including one person responsible for the legal obligations of the company and five structural engineers who signed off on the design, have been identified as bearing responsibility.
2. Construction supervision contractor
This group consists of PKW Consortium (composed of PN Synchronize Co., Ltd., W. & Associates Consultants Co., Ltd., and KP Consultants and Management Co., Ltd.), with one individual held personally accountable as an authorized signatory. These three implicated companies have collectively agreed to assume joint responsibility towards the client in any circumstances. Five individuals in this group have been identified as violators of the law.
3. Construction contractors
The construction contractors include Italthai Development Co., Ltd., China Railway Tenth Bureau (Thailand), and ITD-CREC Consortium’s authorized representatives. A total of six individuals in this group are being held accountable.