In her monthly “Empowering Thais” programme yesterday (May 4), the Prime Minister said that the Department of Public Works and Town & City Planning required 90 days to conclude the investigation. The department said that the 90-day timeframe was quick compared with the normal timeframe for such a probe, which would be two years.
However, the prime minister said that from her point of view, the 90-day period was too long, reports the Bangkok Post.
The government should already have figured out the main cause of the building collapse that killed many people, she said.
“I think it takes too long. How come Thailand has no answers on the big issue of the building collapse and the high fatalities?” Ms Paetongtarn said.
“As a human being, I cannot accept the fact that there [have been no answers],” the Prime Minister said.
She added that the Department of Public Works and Town & City Planning in addition to four other organisations were conducting their own investigation and simulations to determine the cause of the collapse, and they would later compare their findings in order to decide on the most likely cause.
The new 30-storey State Audit Office tower, which was under construction in Chatuchak district, Bangkok, collapsed on Mar 28 when a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar.
Bangkok deputy governor Tavida Kamolvej said yesterday the removal of the rubble had now reached the basement of the tower and the official number of victims had risen to 109 after updated data from the police.
Forensic police said that of the 109 victims, the bodies of 100 victims had been found and 63 bodies had been identified.
Of the identified bodies, 46 were Thai, 15 were Myanmar, one was Cambodian and one was Lao.