Thalang Police Deputy Chief Lt Col Anukul Nuket confirmed that police have been issued a warrant of arrest for Chuchart Plasuwan, the 44-year-old managing director of the The Blue Phuket Co Ltd*.
The Phuket Provincial Court approved arrest warrant number 354/2019 on Friday (Nov 22), he said.
Under the arrest warrant Chuchart is wanted for negligence causing death and serious injury under Section 291 and Section 300 of the Thai Criminal Code, Lt Col Anukul told The Phuket News.
Section 291 stipulates that whoever commits an act by negligence that causes the death of another person may be imprisoned up to no more than 10 years or be fined up to B20,000, or both.
Section 300 stipulates that whoever commits an act of negligence that causes grievous bodily harm to another person shall be imprisoned up to no more three years or be fined up to B6,000, or both.
The Phuket Provincial Court approved the arrest warrant on the grounds that the court did not believe the company’s claims that the workers had the means to escape from being crushed by the 15-inch-thick concrete roof, measuring seven metres by 12m, that fell on them, or the claim that the building was being built to standard, Lt Col Anukul explained.
The company had also violated a ban on construction at the site, he added.
Police through their investigation had established the Chuchart was responsible for the construction at the site, Lt Col Anukul said.
“The construction did not use professional engineering standards, which caused the ground floor to subside, which in turn caused the pylons to not be able to support the weight of the roof. This resulted in the roof collapsing, falling onto the workers inside the building, injured two people and resulting in the deaths of seven others,” he said.
“Also construction of the building was not approved by Srisoothorn Municipality, which had ordered the construction to be halted before the incident happened,” he repeated.
“By his acts of negligence, Mr Chuchart’s actions were wrong. His acts of negligence caused the deaths of others and seriously injured people under Penal Code Sections 291 and 300,” he said.
“And after the building collapsed onto the workers, Mr Chuchart did not contact the investigating officers. The [company] office was closed.
“On the day of the incident, he did not provide provide assistance to those injured or killed.
“Investigation officers from the Thalang Police have tried to track him down, but they now believe he has fled. Hence, the officers requested a warrant for his arrest,” Lt Col Anukul said.
Additional reporting by Tanyaluk Sakoot
* Not The Blue Station Co Ltd as originally reported. The error is regetted.