THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Glass walls to be built at airport to stop falls, suicides

Glass walls to be built at airport to stop falls, suicides

Glass walls will be erected along balconies and bridges around the departure terminal of Suvarnabhumi Airport to guard against suicide attempts or people accidentally falling to their deaths, after a spate of incidents in recent months, Airports of Thaila

Three suicides or deaths had occurred at the airport over the past five months since she took office, Rawena said. The walls, which would cost Bt30 million through a special auction process, due to the urgency of the situation, would be erected at the departure terminal, which is on the fourth and top open floor of the airport building.
“The problem is being taken care of, because it has caused an image problem to Suvarnabhumi Airport,” she explained.
The glass walls would be two metres high, and erected initially at walkways into the departure terminal, on the fourth floor which is connected to internal roads.
Most cases of suicide or suicide attempts were reported at Doors 7 to 10, which are located remotely to the west of the airport building. The latest incident involved a Western man who appeared intoxicated. Video clips of the incident were posted on social media.
There was also an incident in July 2011, cited in news reports, when a security guard burned himself and jumped off a balcony on the fourth floor to his death. The unidentified man was reported to have been stressed out from family problems and had been drinking before setting fire to himself, according to a police report.
According to unaccredited reports, there have been a total of five deaths, through either suicide or accidental falls, since the airport opened seven years ago, including two cases of foreigners falling to their deaths this year. An AOT source said the installation of glass walls was part of an ambitious plan to make Suvarnabhumi the world’s top airport.
The installation should take five months, and should be completed by March next year.
A number of renovation works are underway, including expanding the departure terminal by relocating all ticket counters to the sixth floor, which would open up an extra 1,000 square metres of space.
A new two-storey building is being constructed to house luggage of transit passengers and a conveyor system, which will carry 66 luggage pieces a minute and reduce the time of luggage conveying from 75 minutes to 60 minutes. The new building, which has 12,079 square metres of space, is located between aircraft terminals C, D and E.

 

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