BANGKOK: A hospital under construction just east of Bangkok’s main airport collapsed yesterday, killing at least 11 people and injuring 16, police said.
“The building collapsed, killing 11 construction workers,” said Korawat Hanpradit, superintendent of Bang Phli police station in Samut Prakarn province.
Emergency workers were checking for survivors who may still be trapped under the rubble at the construction site 20km from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.
Rights groups have criticised Thailand’s lax worker safety records, particularly in regard to migrants from neighbouring Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, who make up around five percent of the country’s workforce.
Many of them toil in low-paying jobs in factories, construction sites and on rickety fishing boats.
Taiwan builds satellite gear
TAIPEI: Taiwan has successfully developed a key satellite component whose export is controlled by space powers, an official said yesterday, calling it a “milestone” in efforts to build its own space technology.
Three Taiwanese research and weather satellites launched between 1999 and 2006 were designed abroad.
A fourth scheduled to be launched next year will be 60 percent locally made.
But Taiwan had not previously managed to build equipment to receive signals from global positioning systems.
Yesterday the National Space Organisation (NSPO) announced it has developed the equipment, which is on the export control list of space powers like the United States, France and Germany.
“This is truly a milestone in efforts to build our own space technology,” Tom Lin, an official at the NSPO flight control division, said.
“In the past, export of such sensitive equipment required government approvals, thus adding uncertainty to our projects,” he said.
The equipment will be installed on a fifth satellite called Formosa-7, which is due to be launched in 2018.
Agencies
