Pickup driver killed after overpass collapses in Thai province near Bangkok

Sign up now: Get insights on Asias fast-moving developments

An 18-wheel dump truck had raised its bed while driving before colliding with the overpass structure.

PHOTO: THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

BANGKOK – The Bang Phli Noi Police Station received a report on Dec 18 of an overpass that collapsed and fell onto vehicles, resulting in injuries and one fatality.

The incident occurred on the Bang Na-Trat expressway inbound to Bangkok, in the Bang Phli Noi subdistrict of Thailand’s Samut Prakan province.

Authorities, along with volunteers from Poh Teck Tung Foundation, arrived at the scene with hydraulic tools and two large cranes to assist.

At the scene, they found that the overpass had broken and fallen on a dump truck carrying soil and a pickup truck loaded with eggs.

The collapse led to one fatality, identified as 59-year-old Sangwian, who was the driver of the egg pickup truck. His vehicle’s front cabin was crushed by the fallen beam.

He was trapped inside the wreckage.

The driver of the dump truck, 65-year-old Leuchai, was injured and pinned inside the vehicle’s cabin by the overpass beam.

Rescue teams used the crane to lift the beam off before cutting open the wreckage to free the victim.

It took over two hours to extract him and rush him to a nearby hospital.

Surveillance footage from nearby cameras revealed that the 18-wheel dump truck had raised its bed while driving in the left lane before colliding with the overpass structure.

This caused the beam to snap and fall onto both vehicles.

Motorcycle taxi driver Cherdchai, a witness, reported that as the dump truck raised its bed, drivers behind