Condo under construction collapses

[sbk]

Dozens Buried As Condo Collapses In Thailand

September 4, 2008 6:26 a.m. EST

Komfie Manalo - AHN News Writer

Bangkok, Thailand (AHN) - Dozens of people have been buried in rubble after a condominium building under construction collapsed in the central province of Chon Buri in Thailand Thursday.

Authorities and rescue workers rushed to the scene to dig through the rubble and look for survivors.

Police said the building was still under construction when it collapsed trapping dozens of workers under the rubbles.

The collapse of the building came as the political tension in the region raged with the Thai Cabinet on Thursday agreeing to hold a referendum amid the continued street protests in the capital Bangkok to demand the ouster of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.

Earlier, Samak announced on national television he will not step down despite widespread calls for his removal from office and the paralysis of the government in the 10 days of protests.

Source: AHN

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

I think I would be a bit concerned if I lived in one of the other view talay buildings. Does anyone know if it was due to poor design, poor workmanship or poor material?

[hanno]

Not a laughing matter for the people injured, but:

including a local journalist who hit a pole as he rushed around the site to get the first pictures of the collapse

Silly bugger

Edited September 5, 2008 by hanno

[Thaifan2]

I think I would be a bit concerned if I lived in one of the other view talay buildings. Does anyone know if it was due to poor design, poor workmanship or poor material?

Probably all 3 .Its during construction though that buildings are most vunerable .

[foxxx]

i used to live in view talay 5, man was that place dodgy, didnt feel too save living there, and we lost power every month... and the backup generator exploded one day from running non stop for like 15 hours.

[dotcom]

15 hours is nothing. A back-up or emergency generator should be able to run for weeks - just adding fuel.

[kartman]

Yes but your supposed to turn it off when refueling

[dotcom]

I am unclear if the picture - reproduced ad infinitum above - is from the site or a Taiwan subway. Can mods clarify & remove if necessary? Thanks

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Yes but your supposed to turn it off when refueling

OH!!

[PhilHarries]

I think I would be a bit concerned if I lived in one of the other view talay buildings. Does anyone know if it was due to poor design, poor workmanship or poor material?

Probably all 3 .Its during construction though that buildings are most vunerable .

Correct, all structures are most at risk when incomplete however, from the pictures I have seen, I don't think it was poor design nor materials. It looks like the elevated floor slab collapsed while they were pouring the concrete. I would think the cause is most likely cost and/or schedule cutting measures reducing the temporary supports below the floor.

I'm not familiar with AHN but in their article it only took three sentences to turn the topic from a minor news item about a construction site incident to being about the current political tensions and street protests.

That must be a world record for going

[libya 115]

SOURCE: Pattaya Daily News: September 5th 2008

POOR CONSTRUCTION BEHINDTHE BUILDING COLLAPSES IN PATTAYA

3- storey-[under-construction] building collapsed on Pratumnuk road, causing a serious injury to 5 Khmer workers. Chonburi mayor had stopped the project and sent Pattaya Public Works Department to check for the standard safety immediately.

Pol.Lt.Col. Pholakrit Kamsathien, Pattaya investigator, was notified at 11.00, on September 4th, 2008, that a construction building had collapsed and injured many workers. The incident occurred at Ice Beach hotel construction site, Pratamnak road, Soi 6, Moo 12, Nongprue, Banglamung, Chonburi.

Mr. Pracha Tae-rat, Chonburi mayo,r and the concerned authorities, found the second floor of the construction site had collapsed on 5 Khmer workers. Rescue team managed to help them out with difficulty. Three of them were in critical condition. They were all taken to hospitals immediately.

The inspection showed that the supporting steel bars on the second floor and the content of cement mixer had collapsed down. Construction foreman, Mr. Sutat Namnaimueng, (34) from Konkaen province, was questioned. He told officials that the construction of a-three-storey building is for a seminar room of Ice Beach hotel.

The unexpected incident occurred when the supporting steel bars on the second floor had collapsed down while the concrete mixer was pouring the cement content on it. Unfortunately, workers who could not manage to run out, were crashed against the ground, and badly injured.

Mr. Sulak Pui (25) one of those victims, who had sustained a minor injury said that he was working on the second floor while his colleagues were spreading out working on 1st floor and 2nd floor. When the concrete mixer was pouring the cement content on the 2nd floor, the structure had collapsed, he was sliding down to the lower floor and had a minor injury.

Chonburi mayor, Mr. Pracha Tae-rat, believed that the supporting steel bars for the scaffolding could not support the weight due to substandard material which causing the floor to collapse and injure many workers.

After the construction had been stopped, Pattaya Engineer department set up by Chonburi mayor, Mr. Pracha Tae-rat, to investigate Mr.Kriengkrai Panichpakdee who has the buil0

[LennyW]

I would bet, that before it was clarified that this incident in fact had nothing to do with View Talay (other than being a neighbour to VT3), many people would have been wishing / hoping it was VT7!!

[sbk]

I am unclear if the picture - reproduced ad infinitum above - is from the site or a Taiwan subway. Can mods clarify & remove if necessary? Thanks

as far as I am aware the picture you are referring to was taken from The Nation website

[Kerryd]

I am unclear if the picture - reproduced ad infinitum above - is from the site or a Taiwan subway. Can mods clarify & remove if necessary? Thanks

as far as I am aware the picture you are referring to was taken from The Nation website

Yep, that's where I found it. At the time it was the only pic and article I could find relating to the incident.

[mgjackson69]

Well, it is a photo of some sort of mishap at some construction site...close enough for The Nation.

[LennyW]

6eec0.jpg]

Decent pictures.

Edited September 5, 2008 by LennyW

[dotcom]

No mention that the construction foreman was jailed. TiT.

[Humphrey Bear]

6eec0.jpg]

Decent pictures.

Thanks for the photos.

Looks like typical third world construction pratices - using lightweight access scaffolding as supports for casting an entire floor / no props/steel beams as major supports. Probably no calculation of weight being applied and therefore propping required.

Still, I shouldn't complain - if they all knew what they were doing I would be out of a job!

Problem is, in Thailand I was only allowed to work on Suvarnabhumi - everywhere else seems reserved for Thai engineers.

[libya 115]

****** NEWS ****** UPDATE *******

SOURCE: Pattaya One News: September 6th 2008

30 day stoppage ordered following recent partial collapse of construction in Soi 6 off Pratamnuk Road.

On Friday Afternoon, we joined Police Colonel Nopadon, the Chief of Pattaya Police and Khun Witaya from the City Planning Department at Pattaya City Hall who officially served notice to cease construction at the site of a new Hotel in Soi 6 off the Pratamnuk Road which partially collapsed, injuring 5 people on Thursday.

The notice states that no construction is allowed for a period of 30 days while Government Technicians examine the site and declare it safe to continue construction. We understand that the construction itself is not an issue, however when cement was placed on the second floor of the construction, it was not evenly spread and the weight is thought to have collapsed the structure.

[Basil B]

6eec0.jpg]

Decent pictures.

Thanks for the photos.

Looks like typical third world construction pratices - using lightweight access scaffolding as supports for casting an entire floor / no props/steel beams as major supports. Probably no calculation of weight being applied and therefore propping required.

Still, I shouldn't complain - if they all knew what they were doing I would be out of a job!

Problem is, in Thailand I was only allowed to work on Suvarnabhumi - everywhere else seems reserved for Thai engineers.

At least they seem to have used a metal structure to hold up the floor while they poor the concrete, on some site it looks like the foreman sends young boys to comb the beach for driftwood.

BB

[kurgen]

30 day stoppage ordered following recent partial collapse of construction in Soi 6 off Pratamnuk Road.

or until enough tea money is paid to blind the inspectors?

[Humphrey Bear]

At least they seem to have used a metal structure to hold up the floor while they poor the concrete, on some site it looks like the foreman sends young boys to comb the beach for driftwood.

BB

Nothing wrong with timber supports - it's the number / size / strength that matters. When pouring a large slab there are several factors to take into account - and the method of pouring the concrete.

The scaffold pieces that I can see in these pictures are not suitable for propping - they are for access towers for men working off a platform at anything up to 10 metres. Above that you should also do vector calc's for the structure - as with all major support structures.

House-builders put on to a multi-story building without supervision. A fatal accident in waiting.

[PattayaParent]

30 day stoppage ordered following recent partial collapse of construction in Soi 6 off Pratamnuk Road.

or until enough tea money is paid to blind the inspectors?

Funny but I went down there the Sunday after it happened (3 days later) and there was still work going on on site (although not on the structure) and looking at it yesterday there has certainly been more work carried out to the structure of the building in the last week since I last saw it.