After hours of negotiation, workers at a construction site in Rayong’s Pluak Daeng district, where a crane collapsed and killed seven people yesterday, have allowed the police and rescue teams to retrieve the bodies of their dead colleagues.
The workers, mostly from Myanmar, opened the site this morning after the firm in charge of the construction agreed to pay compensation of Bt1.6 million to the family for each fatality.
Immediately following the crane’s collapse, at around 5pm, 600 surviving workers blocked the gate of the site and surrounded the vehicles of the police and rescue crews who wanted to enter the site to provide emergency care.
The pickets were demanding a meeting with the firm’s owners about compensation before allowing the authorities in.
The police initiated negotiations with the workers’ leaders, with representatives from the Worker Assistance Group for Myanmar (WAG) acting as mediators. During the talks, the dead bodies and injured workers remained inside.
A representative from WAG later revealed that negotiations with the employers had been concluded with the families of each victim signing an agreement, under which they will be paid Bt1.6 million in compensation from employers’ funds and the Social Security Office.
The first tranche of Bt500,000 will be paid immediately, with the balance to be paid in instalments over three months. The employers will also cover the funeral expenses.
A 34-year-old Myanmar worker claimed that several accidents have occurred at the site, but this was the most severe. He recounted witnessing the crane collapse onto the scaffolding where his colleagues were working.
The death toll from the accident has risen to seven, including six from Myanmar and one Chinese national.
The bodies were taken to Rayong police station for identification. This morning, police entered the site to investigate the cause of the accident.
