Two cars plummet into enormous hole on ‘Friendship Highway’ in northeast Thailand

Two drivers were lucky to make it out alive as their cars plunged into a giant hole in the road in Nakhon Ratchasima province in northeast Thailand. The drivers said there were no indications of construction work as they sped along Mittraphap Road – or ‘Friendship Highway‘ – the 509 kilometre road linking Isaan to Bangkok. Both men were rushed to hospital.

The hole was dug in the Sung Noen Ma Klua Mai area to lay underground sewage pipes. It was lined with orange safety barriers, but without warning lights, the sedan and pickup drivers didn’t see the barriers until it was too late.

The pickup driver, Kittichai Wangklang, said he was on his way home driving at 90 kilometres an hour along the dimly-lit road. Suddenly, his pickup crashed through the barriers and into the hole, flipping onto its side.

Kittichai found that there was another car already in the hole. Moments earlier, Simaporn Khadee had driven his purple sedan straight into the hole too. Both men were injured and taken to hospital. However, there is no word on their current condition.

Eyewitness Thanakrit told police he was driving behind the pickup when he took an exit off the road up a bridge and the pickup carried on. He heard a loud bang so he did a U-turn and found the two cars in the hole.

Kittichai said there were no lights at all to warn cars of the upcoming gaping hole in the road, which sees tens of thousands of cars per day. It’s surprising that more cars didn’t end up in the hole.

Dangerous construction projects come as no surprise in Thailand, where human lives continue to be lost or ruined every day due to a complete lack of safety measures. Earlier this month, the Rama II U-turn bridge – under construction – collapsed in Bangkok, killing two people.

In July, a couple narrowly escaped death as a heavy steel beam fell from an under-construction overhead road, skimming their windscreen.

SOURCE: สรยุทธ สุทัศนะจินดา กรรมกรข่าว, Nation