Thailand crane collapse latest: At least 25 dead after crane falls onto train going 120kmph ‘slicing it in half’

Police say the death toll from Wednesday morning’s incident has risen from 22 to 25.

At least 55 people are receiving treatment at nearby hospitals, with many of them suffering minor injuries.

Six people were seriously injured, and have been transferred to larger medical facilities, officials said.

New pictures released by the Thai government show multiple train carriages on fire this morning, after a crane fell onto the train while it was speeding along at about 120kmph.

The fire has since been brought under control, and all trapped passengers have been rescued.

A one-year-old has been identified as the youngest victim of the accident in Sikhio district, BBC Thai reported.

The oldest victim has been identified as a 59-year-old person, officials said.

At least 55 people are receiving treatment at a hospital, with many of them being treated for minor injuries.

Six people were seriously injured and have been transferred to other hospitals, officials said.

Mitr Intrpanya, 54, a local resident who was at the scene, said he saw the crane strike the second carriage of the train “slicing it in half”.

“At around 9am, I heard a loud noise, like something sliding down from above, followed by two explosions,” he told AFP.

“When I went to see what had happened, I found the crane sitting on a passenger train with three carriages.

“The metal from the crane appeared to strike the middle of the second carriage, slicing it in half.”

Today’s crash is among the deadliest rail accidents Thailand has seen in years, but it is not an isolated incident.

In December 2025, dozens of passengers were injured after a locomotive collided with a stationary passenger train during a shunting operation in Kanchanaburi province.

Earlier, in August 2025, a Bangkok-bound sleeper train derailed near Kui Buri in Prachuap Khiri Khan, injuring several passengers.

In 2023, a freight train crashed into a pick-up truck that was crossing railway tracks, killing eight people and injuring four others.

While most recent incidents have resulted in injuries rather than large loss of life, they have raised repeated concerns about rail safety, operational procedures and coordination during construction work along active lines.

Over 4,500 workers were killed or injured in construction accidents in 2021, according to a study by the Workmen’s Compensation Fund in 2022.

A member of the train’s staff has said that he and passengers were thrown into the air by the impact when the crane fell.

Thirasak Wongsoongnern told Thairath Online that the train had three carriages and most deaths and injuries occurred in the rear two carriages.

He said the train was travelling at a speed of about 120km/h when the accident happened.

He said he tried to help passengers but was unable to reach them as the second carriage had already caught fire.

A female noodle vendor near the accident site described how she was panicked, saying it was a usual day before she noticed the crane was bent and shortly after saw the crane losing balance and falling down.

She described hearing a loud clang of metal, forcing her to run to safety.

Thailand’s health ministry said that all passengers have been removed from the scene.

It said all injured and non-injured passengers have been removed from the scene of the accident.

At least 22 bodies were recovered and 80 people were injured in the accident.

The governor of the State Railway of Thailand has been instructed to conduct a “thorough and comprehensive” investigation into the cause of the accident, deputy prime minister and transport minister Phipat Ratchakitprakarn said.

Ratchakitprakarn added that officials are verifying the identities of those affected and closely monitoring the injured, noting that compensation will be provided to the families of the deceased if they were railway workers.

He said there were believed to be 195 passengers on board the train at the time of the crash.

The crane that collapsed onto the train was working on a rail project.

It was a medium-speed railway being built mainly with Thai financing as part of the broader Thai–Chinese High-Speed Railway (HSR) project.

The project began in 2017, and construction was underway under phase one of the Bangkok–Nakhon Ratchasima route.

The railway is using Chinese technology and rolling stock, following delays and operational pauses, particularly during earlier negotiations with China.