25 houses fall into canal

Houses along Khlong Bang Hia in Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan collapsed into the canal on Thursday night. Residents fled. (Photo: Sutthiwit Chayutworakan)
Houses along Khlong Bang Hia in Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan collapsed into the canal on Thursday night. Residents fled. (Photo: Sutthiwit Chayutworakan)

Families fled their homes as 25 houses collapsed into a canal as the bank crumbled away in Samut Prakan on Thursday night.

No casualties were reported.

Police were called to the canal-side community in tambon Bang Phli about 9pm.

They saw a row of houses which had fallen into Khlong Bang Hia. Residents had earlier begun fleeing their homes, removing what belongings they could.

Residents said an earth embankment along the canal and a flood embankment along a nearby 400-rai pond began to subside on Monday evening. A subcontractor began to repair the earth embankment.


The subsidence became very severe on Thursday night, residents said. The earth embankment broke and water from the canal flooded into the nearby pond, which was about 100 metres deep.

The canal soon ran dry and the bank began to crumble, pulling down houses built along the canal-side. Twenty-five houses collapsed.

A local official said complaints had earlier been made about soil being dug out of the pond and taken away for sale.

Vocabulary

  • belongings: the things you own - ข้าวของเครื่องใช้
  • casualty (noun): victim; someone/ something that has been harmed, injured or killed as the result of a bad event such as a disaster or crime (casualties: the number of dead or injured) - เหยื่อผู้เคราะห์ร้าย; จำนวนคนตายหรือได้รับบาดเจ็บ
  • collapse: to fall down suddenly - พังลงมา  ล้ม, พังครืน
  • complaints (noun): when people say that something is wrong or not satisfactory - การร้องเรียน
  • crumble: to break, or cause something to break, into small pieces - แตกละเอียด
  • embankment: a slope made of earth, stone or cement that rises up from either side of a road, railway/railroad, river, etc. - มูลดิน,ตลิ่งทาง, เขื่อน
  • flee: to leave a place or person quickly because you are afraid of possible danger - หนี อพยพ
  • severe: very serious and worrying - ที่รุนแรง ที่น่าเป็นห่วง
  • subcontractor: a contractor that the main contractor doing a project hires to do work -
  • subsidence: the process by which an area of land sinks to a lower level than normal, or by which a building sinks into the ground - การทรุดตัวลง
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