BANGKOK, THAILAND – A dramatic and terrifying sinkhole, estimated to be up to 50 meters deep and 30 meters wide, opened up on Samsen Road in Bangkok early Wednesday morning, September 24, 2025, swallowing vehicles and electricity poles and triggering widespread evacuations. The devastating collapse, captured in viral videos that quickly dominated social media news feeds, has been directly linked to ongoing underground construction for the city’s Purple Line subway extension.
The Ground Gives Way
The incident occurred around 7:00 AM, during the morning commute, in front of the Vajira Hospital in the Dusit district. Dramatic footage shows the road surface visibly cracking and then rapidly descending into a gaping chasm. The collapse was so extensive that it severed the entire four-lane road, pulling down numerous electricity poles and rupturing vital water pipes, which caused further erosion and exacerbated the situation.
At least three vehicles, including a pickup truck and a tow truck from the nearby Samsen Police Station, were caught in the collapse and damaged. Fortunately, no injuries or fatalities have been reported so far, a fact confirmed by Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt, who is also an engineer and rushed to the scene. However, the sheer scale of the sinkhole, which extended approximately 900 square meters, necessitated immediate and extensive safety measures.
Construction Blamed for Catastrophic Collapse
Governor Sittipunt and Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul both identified the ongoing construction of the Purple Line subway as the direct cause of the disaster. According to officials, the collapse began when the shallower of two tunnels being constructed at the future Vajira Hospital station developed cracks at a critical joint. This allowed soil from above to flow into the tunnel and surrounding underground construction spaces. The rupture of a major water pipe nearby further compounded the problem, with the gushing water washing more soil into the tunnel and accelerating the road’s subsidence.
“Soil above began flowing into the tunnel and the underground construction spaces,” Governor Sittipunt explained in a video statement. “This caused the road surface to collapse, dragging down electrical poles and rupturing water pipes. The broken pipes then washed even more soil into the tunnel, making the situation worse”.
Immediate Impact and Evacuations
In the wake of the collapse, authorities acted swiftly to mitigate further risks. Electricity and water supplies to the affected area were cut off. Residents and workers in nearby buildings, including those at the Sam Sen Police Station whose underground structure was exposed, were ordered to evacuate. Vajira Hospital, a key medical facility in the area, temporarily suspended its outpatient services for two days due to safety concerns, though inpatient and emergency services continued. The hospital’s main structure was deemed to be unaffected, thanks to its robust foundational walls.
The incident has brought significant traffic chaos to the area, with roads closed and ongoing efforts to manage the aftermath. Emergency crews and engineering teams are on-site working to stabilize the site and begin the process of backfilling the massive hole.
Broader Concerns for Bangkok’s Infrastructure
This dramatic event is the latest incident to cast a spotlight on Bangkok’s ambitious infrastructure development projects. The city is notoriously built on soft soil and prone to sinking, making underground construction projects particularly challenging. This incident, and the terrifying viral videos it generated, comes just months after a devastating earthquake on March 28 that led to the collapse of an under-construction State Audit Office building, killing at least 92 people.
Questions are inevitably being raised about the safety protocols and oversight for such large-scale underground engineering works in a geologically sensitive area. While authorities are focused on immediate repairs, the long-term implications for ongoing construction projects and the city’s overall infrastructure resilience are likely to be under intense scrutiny. The situation is also compounded by the current monsoon season, with forecasts of heavy rains potentially worsening ground stability.
Prime Minister Charnvirakul has indicated that repairs to the damaged tunnel could take at least a year, highlighting the significant undertaking ahead. As Bangkok grapples with this latest crisis, the focus remains on securing the site, preventing further damage, and restoring normalcy to the affected areas, all while the memory of the road’s terrifying collapse continues to be shared widely online.
