One dead, one injured in Phuket landslide

The area where the landslide took place has now been cleared.

PHUKET: There have been reports one person is dead and another injured following a landslide in Patong this afternoon.

Residents at the scene told The Phuket News the landslide happened around 3pm today, at what appears to be a construction site in the hills behind Soi Nanai.

The scene of the incident had been cleared and the injured person was taken to Patong Hospital.

More details to come.

-- The Phuket News 2013-02-06

Nanai again. What a surprise for everyone..

Is it tre that you can not get a chanote for building and private ownership on any slope over 30% in Thailand ?

Looks like a land grab anyone?

Looks like a landslide to me! Of course, that's from a scientist.

One dead, one injured in Phuket construction landslide

Phuket Gazette

PHUKET: -- One man is dead and another injured after a landslide buried them while they were building a retaining wall high in the hills of Patong late yesterday afternoon.

The two men were working in a trench about two meters deep when the land beside them gave way, burying them alive, explained Lt Thawatchai Srimai of the Patong Police.

Rescue workers called to the scene worked frantically for two hours before they could free Mr Wid Inthong, whose head was nearly fully covered by the dirt.

“His face was all pale. Rescue workers put him on a respirator and a saline drip before rushing him to Patong Hospital,” Lt Thawatchai said.

But by the time the rescue team reached Phuket native Sanit Liponket, 49, he was dead, Lt Thawatchai added.

Pisit Sitthitaru, 40, the backhoe controller at the site, told police, “While we were working a large rock tumbled down and struck Wid and more dirt caved into the trench, almost covering Sanit’s head,”

“Me and other workers tried to help them, both but we could not help Wid,” he added

Lt Thawatchai said police were continuing their investigation into the incident.

Source: http://www.phuketgaz...lide-20153.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2013-02-07

The problem isn't the slope of the land in the chanote. It may well have been flat.

You can see by the photo that the land was originally a lot higher.

The problem is with the excavation. The owner has sold the dirt for fill and brought his flat land a lot lower so that it is now accessible by a road.

Unfortunately, the greed for the largest area of flat land possible has driven the owner to make the steepest sides physically possible.

He's hoping that the flimsy retaining walls will do the trick at holding tons of earth back which also becomes wet in the rainy season.

There will be more slips in Nanai come the SW monsoon.

Unfortunately you can't pay a bribe to break the 'Laws of Gravity.'

Another victim sacrificed for the greed is good mentality so prevalent here. When I first saw the photo I thought it looked like a development between Kalim & Kamala as they are using the same type of rock face to hold back tons of what looks like very unstable land.

I live on 50 year road behind Soi Nanai and I can tell you the situation isn't much better there either, probably worse.. The road is slipping and falling into gully's in numerous places. People are building houses and guest houses up here and after any significant rainfall things just get worse. Shonky building practices don't make it any better either. During the past year I have seen a huge amount of land have 100's of trees removed to make way for building projects. This only makes the ground above and below the removal area even less stable. I'm willing to bet that this area is above the reported landslip here.