Three workers plunge to their deaths from Bangkok’s tallest skyscraper
The Baiyoke tower in Bangkok, Thailand.
Three men installing an advertising billboard on Thailand's tallest building have plunged to their deaths from the 69th floor after the platform they were using broke free.
Two other workers were left clinging to the 89-story, 994-foot high Baiyoke tower in Bangkok on Monday afternoon, AFP reported.
The platform had tilted sharply when the cable snapped, officials said.
The bodies of the victims were found on a 36th floor balcony, beside a swimming pool on the 20th floor and on an outside mini-golf driving range on the 18th floor, according to the Bangkok Post.
"Three men fell to their deaths… while another two were rescued from the 68th story — probably one floor lower than where they had been working," police spokesman Thamarak Reungdit said.
He said the two survivors, who managed to grab a handhold on the platform, suffered minor injuries and had been treated in hospital.
Pleonchit Klongudom, 32, said he and the other worker held on desperately for more than half an hour before the building’s staff broke a window glass and rescued them, the Post reported.
Reungdit said a forensic team would investigate whether or not the platform was overloaded.
The 304-meter Baiyoke tower is a distinctive feature of the Thai capital's skyline and houses a hotel on its uppermost floors.
More from GlobalPost: Islamic banking on the rise amid the credit crunch
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.