Thai window cleaner falls to death from 31st floor of Bangkok hotel

A Thai window cleaner fell to his death on Saturday after his scaffold gondola platform collapsed and plummeted from the 31st floor of a hotel in Soi Sukhumvit 24, Bangkok.

Thong Lo Police Station officers were alerted to the fall of the gondola at a hotel in the Khlong Toei district of Bangkok at about 3.49pm on Saturday, August 17. A forensic doctor from King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital and rescuers from the Ruamkatanyu Foundation were also called to the scene.

The body of the window cleaner, 34 year old Thanu Chanprasert, was discovered in the swimming pool on the seventh floor with a severe open skull wound. A dark blue scaffold gondola platform was found near Thanu’s body, with its sling ropes torn.

Police initially suspected that the incident was caused by a malfunction of the electric gondola. However, after questioning Thanu’s colleague, officers later determined that the incident occurred due to Thanu’s recklessness.

Thanu’s colleague explained that they were both in the blue gondola, changing the sling ropes. Thanu was in the process of replacing the ropes and tightening the screws when, unexpectedly, the screws had not been fully tightened, causing the heavy gondola to fall.

According to safety regulations, Thanu should have secured himself to the stainless-steel handrail attached to the building using two safety ropes. However, Thanu only used one rope, resulting in his fall along with the scaffold gondola platform.

Thanu’s colleague survived because he followed the safety instructions and used two ropes to secure himself to the building.

In a related report about workers in hazardous conditions, one Thai worker was killed, and two others were injured while relocating trees with a crane. The crane’s arm reportedly made contact with high-voltage power lines outside a shopping mall in Bangkok’s Bang Kapi district, resulting in a fatal electrocution that claimed the life of one worker.

Another similar incident involved a Thai electrician who was electrocuted while fixing a loose cable on the roof of a customer’s home in Chon Buri. Fortunately, the 81 year old homeowner saved his life using life-saving tips she had learned from YouTube videos.