The collapse of the Royal Plaza Hotel occurred on 13 August 1993 in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) in Thailand, killing 137 people and injuring 227.
Taking just less than 10 seconds, the building collapsed and transformed the 6-storey complex into a pile of rubble, leaving only the front elevator hall which was separately built from the rest of the structure.
[1] Gradual deformation due to creep weakened all the ground floor support columns and when one failed the rest rapidly followed, resulting in an almost complete vertical collapse.
[1] The investigation mainly focused on solving two conundrums: Criminal charges were filed against fifteen people, including the hotel owner and management, engineers and municipal officials.
[5] In 2009, the Nakhon Ratchasima Court of Appeals charged five defendants for 152.23 million baht as compensation to the companies and the victims' families who suffered from this disaster.