Up to 10 people likely to be charged in Ayutthya bridge collapse: Police

Police have completed interviews of witnesses and wounded victims from the April 29 bridge collapse, provincial police deputy chief Pol Col Wutthipong Phetchkamnerd said. It is expected that charges will be filed against between 7 and 10 people in about one week, although the names of the suspects cannot be revealed as yet.

An informed source reported that about five people at Tambon Tha Luang Municipality including mayor, deputy mayor, public works division head, municipality legal official and the contractor company manager as well as those at the province's public works and city planning division office would face a charge of recklessness causing death and injury. In addition to those involved in the bridge collapse, police investigators who were probed for allegedly putting faulty information in case report might also be punished, the source said.

On Wednesday, Assistant National Police Commissioner Lt Gen Jaramporn Suramanee reported that substandard slings had been used for the construction of the bridge. The slings were designed to carry a maximum weight of just 14.664 tonnes, while the construction project specification indicated that the slings should have been able to hold a weight of between 23.9 and 25.9 tonnes.