Bangkok sinkhole rescue: two rescuers escape seconds before 160-foot crater collapses during car salvage

Two rescuers from Bangkok's disaster prevention and mitigation office were lowered into a 160-foot sinkhole on Samsen Road on Wednesday morning to recover a car that had plunged into the collapsed street. As they prepared to sling the vehicle, the soil suddenly gave way, and torrents of mud slid toward them. Dramatic video shows the men scrambling back up the ropes while colleagues on the surface pulled them to safety. Moments after they were pulled out, a wave of mud and rubble poured into the crater, engulfing the spot they had just vacated. Officials said the salvage effort was abandoned as the bottom of the crater began to shift.

The collapse occurred outside Vajira Hospital in central Bangkok, where part of the road caved in and the sinkhole swallowed electricity poles and tore apart water pipes, leaving the area flooded. The rescue team had been working inside the crater to salvage the car when the ground gave way, and a white sedan was later found at the sinkhole’s edge while a police pickup from Samsen station remained missing, suggesting it could have fallen deeper into the hole.

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said three vehicles were damaged in the incident, but there were no injuries. Suriyachai Rawiwan, head of the city’s disaster prevention department, said the collapse appeared to stem from a combination of heavy rainfall and a leaking pipe. He noted that water from the pipe eroded earth under the road and contributed soil flow toward an under-construction subway station, triggering the collapse. The tunnel is part of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority’s new underground system, and officials have launched an investigation.

Vajira Hospital, connected to one of Thailand's leading medical universities, said outpatient services would be suspended and would resume as soon as possible. Police evacuated the station opposite the sinkhole and nearby apartment buildings while engineers assessed ground stability. Local resident Noppadech Pitpeng, 27, said the sound of the road giving way woke him, adding that his flat shook. Photos showed a heavily restricted street, with a pickup truck hanging over the edge and emergency crews cordoning off the area.

Officials warned that the unstable soil left the area vulnerable to further cave-ins. Sinkholes form when underground cavities collapse, especially in areas underlain by soluble rock such as limestone. They can appear suddenly and swallow vehicles and people in seconds. Notable past cases cited by authorities include the 2013 Seffner, Florida incident, where a 20-foot-wide hole opened beneath a residence and Jeffrey Bush was killed; Guatemala City sinkholes in 2007 that killed five people and another in 2010 that swallowed a three-story building, killing one person. More recently, a 2025 Seoul incident led to a motorcyclist’s death after falling into a 20-meter pit near a subway site, and a Kuala Lumpur case last year involved a woman who vanished into the ground and was declared dead.

As crews monitor the site, officials say the door remains open for a cautious return once conditions stabilize, and the investigation into the broader underground project will continue alongside assessments of nearby structures and services.