SAMUT SAKHON — At about 07:00 on 17 January 2026, Samut Sakhon City Police received a report of a vehicle plunging into a large hole on the Rama II Road frontage lane inbound to Bangkok, outside the Chok Thawee Timber shop in Maha Chai subdistrict.
Traffic police led by Pol Capt Pacharaphon Phaosamran were dispatched to the scene, where they found a grey-black Isuzu D-Max pickup truck. The front right wheel had sunk into a hole about 1 metre wide, 1.5 metres long and roughly 1 metre deep, leaving the remaining wheels suspended above the road surface and raising fears the vehicle could tip over.
Police called in a tow truck to remove the pickup from the carriageway and placed traffic cones to warn motorists of the danger. The driver, Samphan Puhuai Phra, 32, from Samut Prakan province, was uninjured.
The road surface was flooded with tap water, and a backhoe was seen parked nearby alongside large water pipes laid along the roadside. Authorities said the pipes belong to the Samut Sakhon City Municipality.
Samphan said he was returning from work and heading home to Bangkok, driving behind a six-wheel lorry. The road surface appeared normal and dry until it suddenly collapsed beneath his vehicle, causing it to drop into the hole.
Deputy mayor Sakchai Nimitpanya, who visited the scene, said he had been alerted at about 05:30 that tap water had stopped flowing across the city. Initial inspections could not immediately identify the cause because the pipes are underground. He ordered urgent inspections and repairs.
He said the area has been under work for five to six months to install a temporary water pipeline while construction of an elevated section of Rama II Road continues. Once the project is completed, the pipeline will be relocated back to its original alignment. Municipal officials will discuss compensation with those affected, he added.
Reporters said the road subsidence caused by the burst pipe occurred about 1 kilometre from the site of a crane collapse earlier, but on the opposite side of the road. The crane incident was on the outbound lanes, while the subsidence was on the inbound side. Both incidents caused severe traffic congestion.
Following the incident, the Samut Sakhon City Municipality issued an emergency notice saying a 1,000-mm water transmission pipe had ruptured on the Rama II Road frontage lane at kilometre marker 29+300 inbound to Bangkok, outside Thawee Construction Materials shop. The damage halted tap water supply across all municipal service areas, and motorists were advised to avoid the area. The municipality apologised for the inconvenience.