This is the nail-biting moment two rescuers cheated death as they were lifted out of a 160ft sinkhole seconds before tons of rubble came crashing down in Bangkok.
The pair, who work for the city’s disaster prevention and mitigation office, had been lowered on ropes into the pit on Samsen Road to recover a car that had plunged through the collapsed street.
But as they attempted to sling the vehicle, the fragile soil suddenly crumbled.
Dramatic footage shows torrents of mud sliding towards the men as they frantically scrambled back up the ropes while colleagues on the surface dragged them to safety.
Moments after they were pulled to safety, a wave of mud and rubble poured into the sinkhole, engulfing the spot they had been standing only instants before.
Officials said the rescue team had been forced to abandon the salvage attempt when the bottom of the crater began shifting. They may return once the conditions are stable.
Nitarn Chuenchanokphibul, a volunteer with the Ruam Katanyu Foundation, said a white sedan had been discovered abandoned at the edge of the sinkhole, but a police pickup truck from Samsen station was still missing.
He said the police truck might have fallen deeper into the sinkhole and cannot be seen yet.
The sinkhole swallowed electricity poles and tore apart water pipes, leaving the area flooded.
The workers were almost buried alive when the ground gave way beneath them while working inside a vast sinkhole in Bangkok
Moments after they were pulled to safety, a wave of mud poured into the sinkhole, engulfing the spot they had been standing only instants before
Drivers were filmed reversing in panic as the ground opened up, while pedestrians bolted from the scene.
A pickup truck was left hanging perilously over the abyss as emergency teams raced to cordon off the area.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt confirmed that three vehicles had been damaged, though no injuries were reported.
Suriyachai Rawiwan, head of the city’s disaster prevention department, told AFP the collapse was most likely caused by heavy rainfall combined with a leaking pipe.
‘There was a leak in the water pipe – water from the pipe eroded (earth) under the road so this incident happened,’ he said.
‘The water that eroded brought some soil that dropped down to an under-construction subway station, causing the collapse.’
The tunnel forms part of the new underground system being built by the Mass Rapid Transit Authority, which has launched an investigation.
Governor Sittipunt added: ‘The location is at a station, and the soil was sucked into the site… it collapsed.’
Vajira Hospital, which is connected to one of Thailand’s leading medical universities, confirmed in a Facebook post that outpatient services had been suspended and would ‘resume as soon as possible.’
Police evacuated the station opposite the sinkhole, along with nearby apartment buildings, as engineers worked to assess the stability of the ground.
Local resident Noppadech Pitpeng, 27, said he was shaken awake by the sound of the road collapsing.
Pictures show how the busy road was blocked after the huge sinkhole appeared. It swallowed electricity poles and tore apart water pipes, leaving the area flooded.
A pickup truck was left hanging perilously over the abyss as emergency teams raced to cordon off the area
‘The sound was like an electricity pole collapsing and my whole flat shook,’ he said.
The disaster left central Bangkok paralysed, with officials warning the unstable soil meant further cave-ins could not be ruled out.
Sinkholes are sudden depressions that appear when the ground beneath collapses, often in areas where soluble rock such as limestone is slowly eroded by water.
While some develop gradually, the most dangerous are cover-collapse sinkholes, which give way without warning and can swallow homes, cars and people in seconds.
One of the most infamous cases occurred in 2013 in Seffner, Florida, when Jeffrey Bush, 37, was killed after a 20ft wide hole opened beneath his bedroom.
His body was never recovered. In Guatemala City in 2007, a vast chasm 100 metres deep killed five people and forced the evacuation of more than a thousand residents.
Another sinkhole in the city in 2010 swallowed a three-storey building, resulting in the death of one person.
And in 2025 a motorcyclist died in Seoul after plunging into a 20-metre pit near a subway site, while in Kuala Lumpur last year a woman vanished into the ground and was declared dead.
