Massive sinkhole opens up outside Bangkok hospital
The sinkhole was caused by a leak in a tunnel at a construction site for a new MRT station, said Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt.
An overview shows a sinkhole in the ground after a road collapsed near a hospital in Bangkok on Sep 24, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Chanakarn Laosarakham)
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BANGKOK: A massive sinkhole opened up in front of a hospital in Bangkok on Wednesday morning (Sep 24), prompting evacuations and road closures.
The sinkhole appeared at around 7.15am outside Vajira Hospital in the Dusit district of the Thai capital.
Photos and videos circulating on social media show the sinkhole affecting the entire width of the road, with a white truck at the edge of a steep drop.
AFP journalists observed a roughly 50m hole, pulling down power lines and exposing a burst pipe gushing water.
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt told Thai media that the sinkhole was caused by a leak in a tunnel at a construction site for a new MRT station.
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.
The tunnel is part of an underground service being built by the state-run Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA), which said it would investigate the cause of the cave-in.
Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul visited the site, telling reporters he was "concerned" and had ordered people at risk to be moved out of the area.
Anutin also said he expected repairs to the collapsed subway tunnel to take about a year, local media reported.
Suriyachai said the local police station facing the collapsed road was evacuated. Officers from the station later set up a temporary base about 2.4km from the site.
Dozens of police and city officials cordoned off the sinkhole, while a pickup truck teetered precariously on its edge.
Emergency workers using a vehicle-size harness and crane later removed the vehicle from the precipice, but at least one truck fell into the hole as the street sank in, local media reported.
"The location is at a station, and the soil was sucked into the site ... it collapsed," Chadchart said earlier.
In an update later on Wednesday, the Bangkok governor said further landslides had occurred in the deep hole, likely caused by water flowing into the area.
A drainpipe opening also allowed soil to move into the tunnel and the MRT station below, he added.
Crashes could be heard in footage of another landslide at the sinkhole, which caused some electric poles to topple.
To address the issue, 50,000 sandbags were used to seal off the water flowing into the tunnel.
Chadchart said concrete would also be poured in areas with the sandbags to stabilise the ground and prevent soil movement.
He said the nearby police station's building stability was at risk due to the weak soil below, but the hospital was not expected to be affected.
"MY WHOLE FLAT SHOOK"
A video posted on social media and verified by AFP shows several people running from a construction area on Samsen Road as the street cracks open and collapses, revealing a water-filled hole.
Senior police officer Sayam Boonsom said he had ordered the evacuation of nearby apartment blocks.
Authorities said no injuries have been reported so far.
Patients and residents in the area were evacuated, reported The Nation.
It added that traffic has been closed from Vajira intersection to Sanghi intersection and the surrounding areas.
Vajira Hospital, a teaching facility for one of Thailand's top medical universities, said in a statement that outpatient services would be suspended until Thursday.
Its building near the site was temporarily closed but surgery and emergency services were operating as normal, it added.
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.
A receptionist at Suan Dusit University, one street over from the collapsed road, told AFP she felt "a bit scared" by the incident, but said the university had allowed staff to work from home as a precaution.
"Students are now doing online classes," she added.
Additional reporting by Saksith Saiyasombut
