3,000 buildings in Bangkok are dangerous and are under particular threat from fire.

The government does not name which buildings, fearing
a wave of Law Suits.

BANGKOK : Authorities in Thailand 's teeming capital have listed 3,000 high-rise buildings as gravely unsafe saying many are under particular threat from fire, according to a press report.

The Bangkok buildings threatening public safety have not been named for fear of inciting a wave of law suits against the city, the president of the Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) reportedly said.

"The state simply says there are 3,000 unsafe buildings in Bangkok and stops at that," EIT's TotrakulYomnak told the Bangkok Post.

"They fear being hit with defamation suits, so they say nothing."

Concern over Bangkok 's high-rises surged with the collapse earlier this month of part of a city department store which killed one person and injured six others.

The building's owners had been ordered years ago to tear down its top floors as they were built illegally, and the collapse sparked concern that several city skyscrapers had violated the law or skirted construction regulations.

EIT's chairman Pichaya Chatranuwat was cited as slamming the lack of standardized fire prevention systems in the structures and said it was vital to raise the safety of buildings in the city, which is home to some 10 million people.

Thai hotels have been known to lock fire exits, while department stores block them with merchandise, he said.

"We should place our focus on the fire problem," Pichaya said in the English-language daily.

"Previous records have shown that most tragic incidents in high-rise buildings involved this type of accident."

He pointed to a deadly 1997 fire in the Royal Jomtien Hotel in the beach resort of Pattaya south of Bangkok , which killed 91 people.

Source: AFP 2004-06-20

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