Thai parliament canteen ceiling collapse prompts safety checks
A ceiling in the B2 canteen at Thailand’s Sappaya-Sapasathan parliament complex in Bangkok collapsed on Sunday, damaging furniture but causing no injuries.
- A section of the ceiling collapsed in a canteen at Thailand's parliament building in Bangkok.
- Fortunately, no one was injured as the incident occurred on a Sunday when the normally busy canteen was unoccupied.
- The collapse has prompted an immediate investigation into its cause and wider safety inspections of the building.
- The incident has raised further concerns about the parliament complex, which has a history of construction delays and maintenance problems.
A section of the ceiling in the B2 canteen at Thailand’s Sappaya-Sapasathan parliament building in Bangkok’s Dusit district collapsed on Sunday (September 13), crashing onto tables and chairs below and causing extensive damage.
No one was injured because the incident occurred on a Sunday, when the area was not being used by civil servants, parliamentary staff or visitors.
The B2 canteen is normally one of the busiest areas of the parliament complex on working days, particularly during parliamentary sittings. MPs, senators, parliamentary personnel, political figures and visitors regularly use the area for meals and breaks.
The timing of the collapse therefore raised safety concerns, as an incident during normal working hours could have put a large number of people at risk.
Following the collapse, officials and the parliament building’s engineering team inspected the damaged area and began examining the cause. Investigators were checking whether the failure was linked to structural problems, moisture or deterioration of materials, but no conclusion had been reached.
The affected section was expected to be temporarily closed for repairs and further safety inspections before normal use resumes on Monday (September 14).
Sappaya-Sapasathan stands on the bank of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok and has about 424,000 square metres of usable floor space.
The main construction contract for the parliament complex was valued at THB12.28 billion and was originally scheduled to end on November 24, 2015. However, construction remained incomplete, requiring at least four extensions that pushed the completion timeline to the end of 2020. Nation TV has reported that the overall project cost eventually exceeded THB20 billion.
The building has also faced repeated scrutiny over defects, maintenance problems and subsequent requests for additional spending on repairs, improvements and other works, adding to criticism over the project’s mounting long-term costs.
