A 59-year-old man died after falling into a 15-metre-deep tube well on a road divider in Lat Phrao district of Bangkok on Friday.
City inspectors, known as thetsakit, saw the man falling into the well on Lat Phrao Soi 49, said Pol Maj Phichai Wichaya, a traffic inspector at the Chok Chai police station. The incident was reported at 11.13am.
Rescue workers rushed to the scene, as police closed traffic on both inbound and outbound lanes of the road for safety.
At 12.10pm, the man was successfully retrieved, but medics confirmed his death.
According to reports, the victim was crossing the road when he stepped onto the wooden cover of a Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) tube well, causing it to give way and resulting in his fall.
The MEA has issued an apology for the death, saying the agency had been using temporary wooden covers in some locations across Bangkok due to the theft of iron manhole covers.
The victim was later identified as Kamthorn Jaru-anan, 59, of Wang Thong Lang district. His sister Kanchana, 64, and brother Kamphon, 57, went to the Chok Chai police station to identify the body.
Mr Kamphon told reporters that his brother Kamthorn normally went to a hospital for kidney dialysis every week with a family member often accompanying him. On Friday, Kamthorn left home to get money from winning lottery tickets at his sister’s house in Sukhumvit.
While waiting for a bus, he remembered that he had forgotten his mobile phone at home. The fatal accident occurred when he was crossing the road to return to his house to get his phone.
Mr Kamphon said the family would go to Police General Hospital on Saturday to take the body of his brother for funeral rites at Wat That Thong.
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) extended its condolences to the victim’s family.
He said the Wang Thong Lang district office had notified the agency responsible for the faulty manhole cover to repair the problem three weeks ago.
The BMA was ready to work with the MEA to provide compensation to the family, he added.
The governor said he had instructed directors of all district offices not to deny responsibility, even if any tube wells do not belong to the BMA. All district offices have been tasked to thoroughly inspect construction projects within their jurisdictions.
