A tragic accident occurred when a stack of mung bean sacks collapsed on workers; the 42-year-old wife was injured, while the husband died inside a warehouse in the Phra Pradaeng area.
At 10:30 a.m. on 21 July 2026, Police Lieutenant Sarawut Sermklin, Deputy Inspector (Investigation) of Phra Pradaeng Police Station, Samut Prakan province, received a report of a mung bean sack pile collapse trapping workers, with one injured and one dead. He coordinated with the Poh Teck Tung Foundation volunteers to inspect the scene inside a company located in Bang Chak subdistrict, Phra Pradaeng district, Samut Prakan, covering about 5 rai with two warehouses.
The scene was inside a warehouse storing numerous mung bean sacks arranged in piles of 200-300 sacks each, stacked about 20-30 sacks high, approximately 5-6 meters tall, with nearly 2-meter-wide walkways between piles. There was one injured person found: a woman named Ms. Suree, 42, the wife, with bruises and body and back pain. Poh Teck Tung Foundation volunteers provided initial first aid and transported her to Prakob 3 Hospital.
At the scene, the deceased was a man named Mr. Wichit, 39, the husband, with a neck injury (broken neck). Both were employees at the site, responsible for unloading mung bean sacks into a sorting machine. At the time, the couple worked alone. Police documented the scene and handed the body to Poh Teck Tung Foundation volunteers to take to the Police General Hospital's forensic institute for an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death before releasing the body to relatives for religious rites.
Preliminary police questioning revealed that the injured and deceased worked at the accident site, tasked with lifting mung bean sacks to feed into the sorting machine located about 5 meters away. At the time, they pushed a cart through the walkway between the mung bean sack piles and were about to lift sacks from the right-side pile when the left-side pile behind them collapsed, trapping both. Ms. Suree managed to free herself, but Mr. Wichit was completely buried under the sacks and could not be found.
Ms. Suree then ran out to seek help, and rescuers managed to extricate her from the pile, but she was unconscious. Emergency services were called via the 1669 hotline to the Narenthorn Rescue Center, which sent paramedics who performed CPR but could not save the husband. Police plan to review CCTV footage and will question Ms. Suree further once she recovers.
Mr. Worawit Boonsue, 36, brother-in-law of the deceased, said he had not witnessed the collapse as he worked on the other side of the factory. Another worker, an older man, saw the collapse and called for help. Workers then rushed to remove the sacks to rescue the trapped couple. The deceased showed no signs or warnings before the sudden accident.
Ms. Suree, 42, the injured wife, recounted that while moving and pulling the sacks, the pile suddenly collapsed, burying both her and her husband. They had been working together for nine years and at this factory for about eight years. They were working side by side below, pulling sacks when the upper pile collapsed unexpectedly.
Mr. Ae, 50, a coworker who witnessed the event, said the injured were a married couple working together. They were lifting sacks to process and package mung beans when the pile collapsed, trapping them. Each sack weighed 50 kilograms, and about 150 sacks fell, totaling several tons. Other workers heard cries for help and rushed to clear the sacks to rescue and send the injured couple for medical treatment.