Bangkok Road Collapses Into 160-Foot Sinkhole Beside Vajira Hospital, Evacuations Underway

A 160-foot-deep sinkhole opened along Samsen Road in central Bangkok on Wednesday, swallowing part of the roadway in front of Vajira Hospital and prompting evacuations and road closures.

Video footage showed the moment the road gave way, pulling down electricity poles and exposing water pipes as vehicles and pedestrians moved to safety. The hole began to fill with water after underground pipes burst, and a pickup truck was left teetering on the edge. Dozens of police and city officials cordoned off the area, and Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said three vehicles were damaged but there were no reported casualties.

Separate officials indicated the collapse was linked to recent heavy rainfall and a leak in a water main, with water eroding soil beneath the road. Suriyachai Rawiwan, director of Bangkok's disaster prevention department, said there was a leak in the water pipe and water from the pipe eroded earth under the road, triggering the cave-in. He stressed there were no known casualties.

The sinkhole extended toward an under-construction underground MRT tunnel, part of a line being built by the state-run Mass Rapid Transit Authority. The authority said it would investigate the cause of the cave-in. Police reported evacuations of the police station facing the collapsed road and nearby apartment blocks, with senior officer Sayam Boonsom ordering residents to leave as a precaution. The location is at a station, and the soil was sucked into the site, authorities described.

Vajira Hospital, a teaching facility for one of Thailand's leading medical universities, said outpatient services were suspended and would resume as soon as possible. A hospital staffer living near the site recalled a rumbling sound early that morning, likening it to an electricity pole collapsing as the building shook.

The episode highlights the vulnerability of urban infrastructure to extreme rainfall and rapid development. Experts note that sinkholes can form when underground voids collapse, particularly in cities with aging pipes and extensive subterranean works. Climate-change-driven increases in heavy rain are seen by some engineers as elevating the risk of such incidents in Southeast Asia, where many cities sit atop karst landscapes and complex utility networks.

The Bangkok incident follows a broader pattern of sinkholes linked to heavy precipitation and subsidence around the region. Earlier this year, a sinkhole in Seoul’s Meyongil-dong district swallowed a motorcyclist, underscoring ongoing concerns about ground stability in dense urban areas with aging infrastructure. Authorities in Bangkok said they would continue monitoring for further instability and coordinate with the MRT Authority on safety and remediation efforts.