Design, Construction Flaws Led to Bangkok Building Collapse: PM

‘The steel was cut down in size and used in a way that did not comply with regulations,’ Paetongtarn Shinawatra said.
Design, Construction Flaws Led to Bangkok Building Collapse: PM
Thai rescue teams work to rescue and recover those trapped in the rubble of a collapsed construction building in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 31, 2025. Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images
|Updated:
0:00
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was suspended from office on Tuesday, said on June 30 that deficiencies in design and construction methods caused the collapse of a partially built building in Bangkok in March, after an earthquake struck hundreds of miles away. The collapse killed at least 89 construction workers, most of them from Myanmar and Cambodia.
The 30-story building, which was set to house the Thai government’s State Audit Office (SAO), was the only one in Thailand to collapse following a magnitude 7.7 earthquake centered about 800 miles away in central Myanmar, also known as Burma.