Bangkok area: Five ton section of U-turn bridge under construction falls on inbound traffic killing two

[webfact]

Daily News pic caption: Two lives taken!

 

At least two people were killed and two more injured last night when a five ton section of a horseshoe shaped U-turn bridge under construction on the Rama 2 road inbound to Bangkok collapsed crushing vehicles last night.

 

Thai Rath initially reported on the accident that had just happened at 9.55 pm that three were injured and one dead.

 

They said it happened outside the Vibharam Hospital in Samut Sakhon. It cause a huge tailback in traffic already slow in the rain and from a high number of vehicles returning to the Thai capital after the long holiday. 

 

A video posted by Daily Motion showed the collapse at a short distance from a dash cam perspective. A woman in a car shrieks as up ahead the collapse can be seen.

 

 

Daily News later had more details including stories from motorists who had a narrow brush with death.

 

They said it occurred at KM marker 34 in Muang district and four vehicles were damaged.

 

One of the deceased was a passenger in a Chevrolet that could be seen crushed under a 10 meter section of concrete.

 

They said that two workers fell off the bridge and one later died. 

 

Thippawan, 30, said she was returning from a day out with her children and they were all very lucky to avoid death or injury.

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

A retired school director from Chanthaburi, Suwan, aged 60, also said that five people in his vehicle were lucky to be alive.

 

Tailbacks ran for many kilometers.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

An investigation is underway.

 

Traffic returning to Bangkok was extremely heavy last night, notes ASEAN NOW. 

 

Traffic was crawling slowly for many kilometers inbound on Pahonyothin, northern Bangkok, where our reporter saw the aftermath of a serious accident outbound.

 

Persistent light rain did nothing to help the traffic flow swelled by thousands returning after the long HM King's birthday four day holiday. 

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2022-08-01

 

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Picture: Daily News

 

[KhunLA]

Note to self: stop driving under expressway for shade 

[Rampant Rabbit]

Made in Thailand..........your  guarantee  of  quality

[2baht]

Ok, here's the lucky numbers! 

 

[GroveHillWanderer]

Does anyone know what the latest traffic situation is?

 

We're due to drive to Suvarnabhumi airport from Hua Hin today and Google is saying 3h 48 min avoiding "road closures on route 35.” (normally takes less than 3 hours).

 

Anyone driven that way this morning? Is it still closed?

[Gottfrid]

Nice to know they will never give 1 year warranty of those works.

[steven100]

heavy rain caused it to collapse .....  just like everything else .... it's only ever heavy rain,  nothing to do with the structural integrity of the concrete used or the lack of re-bar or the quality of the re-bar used.

nah '    heavy rain ......   

[Rampant Rabbit]

19 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

Does anyone know what the latest traffic situation is?

 

We're due to drive to Suvarnabhumi airport from Hua Hin today and Google is saying 3h 48 min avoiding "road closures on route 35.” (normally takes less than 3 hours).

 

Anyone driven that way this morning? Is it still closed?

was  going to drive up today  but seeing that <deleted>efest  will  go  later in the week

[Rampant Rabbit]

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

heavy rain caused it to collapse .....  just like everything else .... it's only ever heavy rain,  nothing to do with the structural integrity of the concrete used or the lack of re-bar or the quality of the re-bar used.

nah '    heavy rain ......   

well it  couldnt skid off the road  could  it!

[Neeranam]

22 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

Does anyone know what the latest traffic situation is?

 

We're due to drive to Suvarnabhumi airport from Hua Hin today and Google is saying 3h 48 min avoiding "road closures on route 35.” (normally takes less than 3 hours).

 

Anyone driven that way this morning? Is it still closed?

Better to go via Nakhon Pathom, that's the way I'm going. 

[Rampant Rabbit]

looks  like it  may be  almost cleared  already, 3hr15 minutes from me past hua  hin

[Deserted]

We are never as safe as we think we are.

[Excel]

Who was the contractor constructing it, anybody knows ?

[Deserted]

It's the same people who are to be held accountable or not. 

[webfact]

Two killed as part of flyover collapses on Rama II Road in Samut Sakhon

 

 

Two people were killed and two others injured when a support beam of a U-turn flyover bridge, undergoing maintenance, collapsed on Sunday night, forcing the Highways Department temporarily to close the road to in-bound traffic on the busy Rama II Road in Samut Sakhon province.

 

Maintenance of the bridge was suspended, pending an investigation into the cause of the cave-in, said Highways Department Director-General Sarawut Songsivilai last night.

It is reported that workers were about to pour cement on the flyover bridge, in front of the Vibharam Hospital, when the beam suddenly collapsed onto a few cars on the in-bound lanes of Rama II Road, damaging three of them.

 

One person was crushed to death in his car and an official of the Highways Department, who was supervising the maintenance work, was also killed. Two others were injured.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/two-killed-as-part-of-flyover-collapses-on-rama-ii-road-in-samut-sakhon/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-08-01

 

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[webfact]

Quick Investigation Ordered into Fatal Bridge Collapse

 

 

SAMUT SAKHON, Aug 1 (TNA) – The governor of Samut Sakhon province ordered quick investigation into the cause of the U-turn bridge collapse that killed two people and injured two others on Rama II Road in front of Vibharam Samutsakhon Hospital.

 

The tragedy happened at the 34 th  kilometer marker of the road in Muang district at about 8.30pm yesterday (July 31). The U-turn bridge had been closed for repair. Its beam fell on to vehicles that were using the Bangkok-bound express lanes of the road.

 

The 10-meter-long concrete beam weighing about five tons hit and split a Bangkok-registered car. Its front passenger died instantly and its driver was injured. It took rescue workers about an hour to free the body from the car.

 

Full story: https://tna.mcot.net/english-news-989242

 

-- © Copyright Thai News Agency 2022-08-01

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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[markclover]

They build cities out of the dust in a few months.  Have to give them that.  Thai city planners can build stuff fast.  Accidents like this are rare.

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, steven100 said:

heavy rain caused it to collapse .....  just like everything else .... it's only ever heavy rain,  nothing to do with the structural integrity of the concrete used or the lack of re-bar or the quality of the re-bar used.

nah '    heavy rain ......   

just wondering if there's a qualified and experienced civil engineer on site at all times (or perhaps that's 9 to 5 excepting golf days of course). 

[greenmonkey]

am i reading this right... that piece of flyover had not been cemented in (i.e. they were in the process of doing it whilst allowing all those cars to pass by underneath)!??? That seems crazy to me...

[scorecard]

7 minutes ago, greenmonkey said:

am i reading this right... that piece of flyover had not been cemented in (i.e. they were in the process of doing it whilst allowing all those cars to pass by underneath)!??? That seems crazy to me...

Further, I suspect the engineers on this site would be horrified if they observed similar construction for a week.

[engamann]

Always have to smile when pass a construction area in Thailand , all over the place them have this sign saying Saifty First lol , think that we all can agree to that Thailand and Saifty first not fit good togheter.

[Mavideol]

2 hours ago, Excel said:

Who was the contractor constructing it, anybody knows ?

Could it be Anutin's company   555

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anutin_Charnvirakul#:~:text=Anuthin is heir to a major construction company,An engineer%2C Anuthin served as president of Sino-Thai.

 

Anuthin is heir to a major construction company fortune. His family's company, Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction PCL, built several government mega-projects such as Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.^[4] An engineer, Anuthin served as president of Sino-Thai.^[5]

[Classic Ray]

I am surprised (not really) that maintenance work should be carried out above live lanes. I suspect they wanted to close lanes/carriageway, but were told to carry on to avoid traffic disruption and construction delay. As a result, people died.

[Orinoco]

Safety first.

TIT.

[richard_smith237]

Horrific...   

 

In many of our home nations the road below would be closed while constructing the bridge causing traffic chaos for weeks. 

 

In the UK roads are closed to paint the white lines !!...  Motorways are ‘coned down’ to a single lane to prosecute the workers carrying out repairs which take weeks and moths. 

 

In Thailand the traffic is permitted to flow, beneath, above and around road-works and building works. 

 

This incident is of course horrific, and someone for such took a short-cut resulting in this failure. But its construction and this is why in other areas of the world whole roads are closes. 

 

Which is the right way to go about this ?

Well, I like that Thailand doesn’t close whole roads when carrying out work, but this can come at a very expensive cost as this news highlights... 

 

Pros vs cons of closing roads....   We like them not being closed until something like this happens. 

We don’t like them being closed in the UK and complain about it, but then something like this  cannot happen... 

 

Which is best ????...  

 

[Almer]

4 hours ago, 2baht said:

Ok, here's the lucky numbers! 

 

Already sold out for sure

[GroveHillWanderer]

3 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

looks  like it  may be  almost cleared  already, 3hr15 minutes from me past hua  hin

Google Maps and Tom Tom both saying it's still closed and to go via Nakhon Pathom.

 

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

How can this happen in Safe, Trusted Thailand?

[kotsak]

Construction on Rama II has been a PITA for more than a decade, I can't recall driving and not cursing the moment during the past 13 years, neverending construction. They are rushing to finish this goddamn project and apparently things are being pushed under the rag and cutting corners.

 

[sawadee1947]

Not sufficient concrete and steel?

Money for that went to....?????

☹️????????