Four dead, 16 hurt in beam collapse on Rama 2 Road

At least four people were killed while about 16 others sustained injuries, after a concrete beam of an under-construction expressway bridge in Chom Thong district, Bangkok, dropped on early Saturday morning.

Bang Mod police were notified of the incident at 1.48am at Sakakorn junction in front of a jewelry store near Rama 2 Soi 25 which is close to the Rama III-Dao Khanong expressway.

Reports say that a concrete beam being constructed, around 200 metres from an expressway entrance, fell onto an existing structure of the expressway, injuring several and killing some. There were about 20 workers at the site when it collapsed.

Rescue teams and officers from the Bangkok Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department were quickly on the scene to try to find and help survivors in the rubble, bringing sniffer dogs and special equipment.

Four workers have so far been confirmed dead at the scene, and at least 16 others have been injured as of 6am.

Rescue efforts were ongoing as one victim had been recovered, while another body had been found and is being pulled from the debris. Two others remained missing.

Ten of the wounded were transported to local hospitals.

A worker on site said he heard loud sounds coming from the building before it collapsed as operators poured concrete to connect the columns.

All directions of the nearby Chom Thong Road were closed for ongoing rescue operations.

Engineers and the police were inspecting the cause of the collapse.

Rama 2 Road is the main and most direct road connecting Bangkok with the southern region with popular resort towns like Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. Congestion on Rama 2 is detrimental to tourism, as both local and foreign tourists tend to make their way to other locations to evade traffic jams, so government officials are in agreement.

Work on the expressway being built over the road from Bangkok to Samut Sakhon is meant to facilitate travel, but the delays have made things worse, especially on weekends and long public holidays, because of the frequency of bad luck and road closures.

Construction accidents on Rama 2 Road have previously caused deaths. One of the incidents occurred on Nov 29 last year where a sling broke, killing six and injuring eight. On Jan 18 last year, another accident occurred when a sling snapped, resulting in the death of a worker and the fall of the crane’s lifting basket. In May 2023, another worker was crushed to death by a falling concrete slab.