NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A pipeline leak led to a sudden subsidence, leaving a 5-metre-wide hole on a frontage road on the Nakhon Ratchasima-bound side of the Mittraphap highway in Muang district on Tuesday.
Road repairs are underway, but the work is not expected to be completed before Friday.
Part of the road surface collapsed about 2am on Tuesday, leaving a hole about 5 metres wide and 2 metres deep, near kilometre marker 131/800 in tambon Khok Kruat of Muang district.
A pickup nearly fell into the hole, the driver avoiding it only by swerving off the road. He crashed into a power pole. Three people sustained minor injuries.
An examination of the hole by officials from the provincial highway office and the municipal office determined the subsidence was caused by water leaking from a 60-kilometre pipeline between Lam Takhon dam and the town waterworks plant.
The water eroded the soil under the road, leading to the collapse.
The pipeline was being shut down and about 48,000 cubic metres of water would be drained from it. Then the leak in the pipeline would be plugged and the hole in the road filled up.
Repairs to the road were expected to be completed by Friday, officials said.
Police from Pho Klang station were directing traffic flow in the area.