Man cheats death as ‘knockdown’ house crashes into home in Khon Kaen

A 29-year-old homeowner resting inside his house narrowly escaped death when a crane, unloading a prefabricated house at a nearby site, lost balance, tilted and toppled onto his home in Khon Kaen’s Muang district on Saturday.

Narin Chinbut was trapped under the debris and called for help. He was eventually pulled from the damaged house by construction supervisors who rushed to the scene. They forced open a window and managed to rescue him.

The incident occurred in Soi Klang Mueang Soi 9, within the Khon Kaen Municipality.

The crane was lifting the prefabricated structure, locally known as a “knockdown house”, off a truck to place it on a prepared foundation.

The operation required the load to be hoisted more than 10 metres over high-voltage power lines.

As the house neared its intended position, the weight proved too much for the crane. It slowly tilted and then collapsed onto its side, causing the structure to crash onto a neighbouring home.

The entire incident was captured on video, from the moment the pre-fab house was lifted over the power lines until it plunged onto Narin’s house.

Narin told Thai PBS that he had been lying down at home waiting to go to work in the afternoon when he suddenly heard a loud noise like an explosion.

Wooden debris and dust filled the house. He called out for his dog, but the animal did not appear and he was unable to find a way out.

“I usually walk around the exact spot where the house fell, but I was lucky not to be there at the time,” he said.

Narin’s uncle said that he had been doing laundry outside when he heard the loud noise and rushed to investigate. He believes the accident was caused by operator error.

Following the incident, the company that owns the crane reportedly contacted the family only to say that its insurance company would inspect the damage and provide compensation, according to Narin.