Truck crashes when raised dump bed strikes low bridge
This is the shocking moment a truck crashed when its raised dump bed struck a bridge in Thailand.
The white truck was travelling along the Bang Na-Trat road when its open-box container slammed into the flyover near Bangkok.
CCTV footage shows the truck's front end being lifted off the ground before crashing back down in a cloud of dust, sending dirt flying across the highway.
Rescuers were deployed to the scene, where the truck was lying on its side on the median.
The 44-year-old driver, Suwat, and his six-year-old daughter were injured but conscious. Both were taken to hospital for treatment.
Recounting the incident, Suwat claimed he had lowered the dump bed after unloading sand at a nearby construction site.
He said: 'We felt like the truck was floating, and then it landed.
'I am sure I lowered the entire dump bed all the way down. I don't know how it was raised while I was driving.'
Highway officials temporarily closed sections of the road as tow trucks and cranes cleared the scene.
Phichakorn Srichanthong, director of the Samut Prakan Highway District, later arrived with engineers to inspect the integrity of the bridge.
He said: 'The initial assessment indicated that the bridge remains safe for use, but we will request specialists to carry out a further inspection.
'The truck's contracting company and its insurer would be responsible for the damage.'
He added that investigations were underway to find how exactly the truck bed had risen.
Thailand has one of the world's worst road safety records. Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.
However, a lack of road safety education in schools along with notoriously easy driving tests, police failures to enforce road laws, and chronic under-investment in infrastructure, all appear to hamper the efforts.
