A U-turn bridge over the Rama II Road heading towards Bangkok collapsed yesterday at 8pm, falling onto four vehicles and killing two people. One passenger died at the scene and a construction worker who fell from the bridge later died in hospital from their injuries. Two more people are injured.
The incident happened in front of Vibharam Hospital in Samut Sakhon province. The bridge was temporarily closed for maintenance.
Police from Mueang Samut Sakhon Police Station found a Chevrolet sedan trapped underneath a ten metre concrete slab weighing approximately five tonnes. The bridge fell onto the left side of the car, instantly killing the passenger sitting in the front seat. The driver was injured but survived the accident.
Construction workers were stood on the bridge when it collapsed. Two people who fell were seriously injured, one of whom later died from their injuries at Samut Sakhon Hospital.
The bridge also partially fell onto a Isuzu D-max pickup truck with a family of five people inside. One passenger, 30 year old Thipanan Srilangwan said she and her family were driving home after selling toys at Chulamanee Temple in Samut Songkhram province when the bridge suddenly fell onto their car. Thipanan said everyone was shocked and terrified but thankfully no one was injured.
A diesel truck which had just finished delivering diesel to a customer was also damaged by the collapsed bridge but the driver was unharmed.
The accident caused a huge traffic jam because a crane was needed to lift the heavy slab of concrete. It took one hour for the rescue team to cut the dead body out from the wreckage of the Chevrolet.
A couple of weeks ago, a heavy steel beam fell onto the same road – Rama II – from an under-construction overhead road. The beam fell just metres in front of a pickup truck which was flung into the air when it collided with the beam. Miraculously, the couple inside the vehicle were not injured. The construction company responsible for the accident gave the couple 300,000 baht in compensation. The incident was also caught by dashcam footage.
SOURCE: Daily News