Bridges across Thailand inspected for public safety

BANGKOK, April 29 (TNA) - Transport Minister Chatchart Sithipan has ordered the Departments of Rural Roads and Highways to inspect bridges across Thailand to ensure public safety. Chatchart told journalists on Monday that he has instructed that the two departments, under his ministry's jurisdiction, to inspect all the bridges nationwide, especially, cable-stayed bridges. Chatchart insisted that the Departments of Rural Roads and Highways, in cooperation with local administrative bodies, are to test the strength and conditions of the nationwide bridges. The transport minister also urged people to keep away from any deteriorated or damaged bridge for the sake their own safety. The minister's order followed the collapse of a small cable-stayed bridge across the Pasak River in Thailand's central Ayutthaya province on Sunday evening, killing at least four people and injuring about a dozen others so far, even though the bridge is not under his ministry's jurisdiction. The collapsed concrete bridge, called Rattanakosin, stands in the Tha Luang locality in Ayutthaya's Tha Rua district. Its damage spanned about half of the 200-meter-long bridge, causing people and motorcycles to fall into the river. (TNA)