This is the tragic moment a bridge collapsed onto cars killing two people in Thailand.

The Vibharam bridge was undergoing repairs when a large 32ft-long concrete beam plunged to the ground during a storm in Samut Sakhon on the outskirts of Bangkok on Sunday, July 31 evening.

Two people were killed. They were identified as a passenger in a crushed silver sedan below who died at the scene while a worker repairing the bridge who was critically injured but later died at the hospital. Two others were injured but are now in stable condition.

The car driver survived but rescuers had to cut open the vehicle using power-cutting tools to retrieve him before being rushed to Samut Sakhon Hospital with injured workers.

Thipanan Sriprachan, 30, who was driving a pickup truck near the accident, said: ‘I was with my wife and children going home. It was raining, so we slowed down then we saw the concrete fell onto the car in front. Some of the debris also hit my truck. My children were traumatised but we were all safe.'

Another witness, teacher Suwan Thaweephon, 60, who was driving back from a school competition with students, added: ‘We were returning from the National Youth Sports event in Phatthalung. We were behind the sedan that was crushed by the concrete. We tried to help but the concrete was too heavy.'

Those killed and injured were all rushed to the hospital but the debris caused a traffic jam in the area spanning some 20 miles.

Department of Highways director general Sarawut Songsiwilai said: ‘The Department of Highways expresses its deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. We have established a committee to find the cause with the help of our expert engineers.'

The department said it would conduct a 14-day inspection of the bridge while the road would be closed indefinitely until it passed safety checks.

The broken bridge had been used for almost three decades, mostly by big delivery trucks after it was built in 1993. It started having repairs on June 23 to reinforce it with steel rods which would have been completed by the end of August.

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, the efforts could be hampered by chronic under-investment in infrastructure as well as endemic corruption which sees public funds disappear into bureaucratic black holes and contracts given to government cronies in exchange for kickbacks.

Rolls Royce was even dragged into the corruption quagmire after it emerged the firm had allegedly paid bribes to officials in order to secure engine contracts for the national airline Thai Air.