A section of Leab Khlong 13 Road in Pathum Thani’s Nong Sua district suddenly collapsed Thursday morning, leaving a truck overturned in its wake.
Police and soldiers rushed to the subsided section on the eastern side of Leap Khlong 13 Road in front of Wat Thammarat Charoenpol in tambon Salakhru around 6am this morning.
The officers found a six-wheeled truck flipped after it fell into a fissure about two metres deep.
Phumpat Khampapai, 38, said he was driving his truck from the Big C distribution centre in Bangkok's Lat Krabang to deliver fresh food to a superstore branch in Nakhon Ratchasima. When he reached that section, the road suddenly buckled and split open for almost 100 metres. He lost control of the vehicle and it overturned. He managed to escape unhurt.
Authorities were examining the damaged road.
Earlier this week, the Transport Ministry ordered inspections of riverfront roads nationwide over risk of subsidence caused by drought after several recent collapses.
The inspection was ordered by Transport Minister Prajin Juntong. The Highways Department and Rural Roads Department were surveying roads along waterways nationwide. A special budget is being set aside repairs and reinforcement of roads prone to subsidence.
Some roads in Ayutthaya and Saraburi were closed in recent days after they developed large cracks, a result of fast-receding water, which caused the soil underneath surfaces to sink.
In Lat Bua Luang district of Ayutthaya, a road along Khlong Phraya Bunleu cracked in two places; one in tambon Samuang and the other in tambon Khlong Phraya Bunleu. The cracks were about 100-500 metres long and some two to six metres deep.
In Saraburi, a 200-metre road split was reported along Khlong Rapeepat in Nong Khae district.
ACM Prajin said on Monday that the road cracks were one of the severe impacts of drought to hit the nation.
In May, two sections of Leab Khlong 4 Road in Khlong Luang district of Pathum Thani had been closed to traffic after subsidence forced emergency repair crews to be called out.