SAMUT SAKHON: Two people were killed and a 3rd injured when a beam fell from a U-turn flyover onto the Rama II Highway in Muang area on Sunday night.
It occurred near the 34 kilometre marker upon Rama II Highway, the Thon Buri-Pak Tho road, in front of Vibharam Samutsakhon Medical center about 8. 30pm.
An enormous concrete beam, about 10 metres lengthy and weighing about five tonnes, along with its concrete train guard. fell on to three vehicles moving underneath the flyover, which usually had been closed just for maintenance.
The beam landed directly on top of the Chevrolet car plus partly on a pickup truck and an empty oil tanker on the Bangkok-bound side of the road.
A female in the car’s front passenger seat had been crushed and wiped out. Its driver has been pulled out of the vehicle by eyewitnesses. 5 people travelling in the pickup truck narrowly escaped injury as the beam crunched the front from the vehicle
Two men focusing on the flyover had been injured, and one later on succumbed to his accidents.
The collapse caused a traffic jam. Road users could use only the frontage lanes. Highways officials closed the expressway lanes for fear of the flyover construction was unsafe.
The Highways Department closed the U-turn flyover on June 23 pertaining to maintenance because of usage.
It was heavily used by large trucks and the surface area was badly eroded, in places down to the steel reinforcing rods. The upkeep work was previously set for completion at the end of this month.