A vehicles stands near a massive sinkhole that opened on Samsen Road near Vajira Hospital, in Bangkok, Thailand, September 24, 2025
A vehicles stands near a massive sinkhole that opened on Samsen Road near Vajira Hospital, in Bangkok, Thailand, September 24, 2025
A portion of a busy road in Thailand's capital collapsed dramatically on Wednesday, leaving a 160ft-deep sinkhole in the ground.

Terrifying footage showed the moment a road dramatically gave way in front of Vajira Hospital in central Bangkok, pulling down several electricity poles and leaving water pipes exposed.

Vehicles were seen attempting to reverse as the floor opened up while pedestrians ran away from the site.

Images of the aftermath of the incident showed how the hole was filled with water after pipes burst.

Dozens of police and city officials cordoned off the site, while a pickup truck teetered precariously on the edge of the hole.

No casualties were reported, but three vehicles sustained damage, Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said.



Suriyachai Rawiwan, director of Bangkok's disaster prevention department, told AFP at the scene that the collapse was likely linked to recent heavy rain and a leaky pipe.

'There was a leak in the water pipe - water from the pipe eroded (earth) under the road so this incident happened,' he said, adding that there were no known casualties.

'The water that eroded brought some soil that dropped down to an under-construction subway station, causing the collapse,' Suriyachai added.

Vehicles were seen attempting to reverse as the floor opened up while pedestrians ran away from the site
Vehicles were seen attempting to reverse as the floor opened up while pedestrians ran away from the site
The tunnel is part of an underground service being built by the state-run Mass Rapid Transit Authority, which said it would investigate the cause of the cave-in.

Suriyachai said the local police station facing the collapsed road was evacuated.

Senior police officer Sayam Boonsom also said he had ordered the evacuation of nearby apartment blocks.

'The location is at a station, and the soil was sucked into the site... it collapsed,' Governor Sittipunt told AFP at the scene.

Vajira Hospital, a teaching facility for one of Thailand's top medical universities, said in a Facebook post it was suspending outpatient services, adding that they would 'resume as soon as possible'.

Noppadech Pitpeng, a 27-year-old hospital staffer who lives in a nearby building, said he was frightened by a rumbling sound on Wednesday morning that woke him up.

'The sound was like an electricity pole collapsing and my whole flat shook,' he said, while carrying clothes in a large bucket out of his building.