'Many Bangkok buildings unsafe'

'Many Bangkok buildings unsafe'

THAILAND: 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 report on Sunday.

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 Totrakul Yomnak 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. --AFP