Immigration Bureau insists building safe after ceiling collapse

The Immigration Bureau has confirmed that the structural integrity of its training centre remains safe, following an incident in which part of the ceiling collapsed. The bureau attributed the collapse to humidity caused by the building’s air-conditioning system.

The clarification, issued on Tuesday, came in response to a post by the popular Facebook page CSI LA, which reported that the ceiling of a meeting room at the training centre had fallen just days before it was scheduled to host an immigration officers’ training session this Thursday.

In its original post at 3.34 pm on Monday, CSI LA claimed the building was the same one deemed structurally unsafe after the March 28 earthquake in Myanmar, which was also felt in parts of Thailand.

However, the Immigration Bureau clarified that the incident occurred at around 9 am in a third-floor meeting room at its training facility located on Rama I Road in Bangkok’s Pathumwan district. The bureau stressed that this is not the same building previously assessed as structurally unsafe — that building is located in Muang Thong Thani.

According to the bureau, water condensation from the air-conditioning system accumulated on the ceiling panels, causing excess moisture. This led to the screws becoming compromised under the weight of the humidity, resulting in the collapse.

The Police Public Works Division has since been tasked with working alongside the private company responsible for the air-conditioning system to inspect and address any further risk of water leakage or condensation in order to prevent similar incidents.

Following the bureau’s clarification, CSI LA updated its post to acknowledge that the affected building was not the same one declared unsafe in Muang Thong Thani.

As of Tuesday morning, the original post had received over 9,700 reactions, more than 310 comments, and had been shared upwards of 590 times.