Worker dies as bell tower collapses
The director-general of the Fine Arts Department has ordered a probe into the collapse of an old bell tower at a temple in the capital’s Bangkok Noi district that left one worker dead.
The bell tower collapsed during renovation work at Wat Phraya Tham Voraviharn on Soi Arun Amarin 15 in the Chang Lor area around noon yesterday. Eleven workers were injured, two of them seriously.
The temple is located on the Thon Buri side of Bangkok, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River.
After learning of the collapse, department chief Anandha Chuchoti, who was on a trip to Narathiwat, cancelled all his engagements there yesterday and immediately flew back to Bangkok to follow up on the incident.
He said he has ordered engineers who were overseeing the renovation work to investigate the cause of the collapse, adding that the department had contracted the workers to renovate the old bell tower.
Besides the worker who was killed, 11 others — nine men and two women — were trapped in the debris. They were extricated and taken to Siriraj Hospital, according to the Erawan rescue centre.
Two were badly hurt, their legs injured by the steel rods they were carrying at the time.
The bell tower first subsided, then collapsed, Thai media reported.
Official records show that the temple dates back to the reign of King Narai the Great of the Ayutthaya period.
The temple underwent major renovation work during the reigns of Kings Rama II, III and V — over a century ago.
Several old structures on temple premises are dilapidated, including the ubosot and sala kan parian pavilion.