MAE HONG SON: Several people giving alms to monks were injured, with two in a serious condition, when the Su Tong Pae Bridge, the country's longest bamboo bridge, collapsed Wednesday morning.
A large crowd of local people and visitors had gathered on the two-metre wide, 500m long walkway to make merit and mark the end of Buddhist Lent, the Ok Pansa festival.
There were also 29 monks on the woven bamboo structure when a large section of it collapsed under the weight of so many people, sending many of them screaming into the waterway below.
The collapse took place 15 minutes after the merit-making ceremony started.
The event was attended by local officials and monks including the Suantham Pusama meditation centre's abbot, Buddhist faithful, and tourists.
One man and a woman were seriously hurt as they struck concrete posts and several others suffered minor injuries in the incident.