The Din Daeng district office plans legal action against the National Housing Authority after a 50-year-old building collapsed while being demolished in Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon.
District chief Panchapat Lakdee said his office had ordered the state-run NHA to stop knocking down the old Din Daeng flats in February because the demolition work was substandard, but it continued anyway.
About 3.30pm on Tuesday a five-storey building collapsed, hitting roadside trees and power poles and damaging some vehicles. No one was injured.
It was reported that workers were using two backhoes to knock down the building at its base. When the building collapsed it also buried the backhoes, which fortunately were not in use at the time. Witnesses said there was no engineer at the site, as required by law.
The old Din Daeng flats are being replaced with high-rises at the same site.
