Residents in Thailand's Ban Thanon Khot are accustomed to the rumbling of trains – rail is a key mode of transportation connecting the remote town with major cities.
But on Wednesday, the mundane rhythm ended in tragedy.
The noise was abnormally loud. A huge, crashing sound, said school volunteer Pitchaya Promenade. I saw a blue crane sliding. It seemed stuck for a moment, and suddenly it flipped over.
The construction crane had collapsed onto a moving train, killing at least 32 people and injuring 66 others. Most were students and workers traveling for school and work. Thailand's Public Health Ministry reported that three people are still missing following the accident.
Rescuers were still pulling bodies from the mangled train when the BBC arrived at the site in the evening. Parts of the train were completely crushed.
If I had to describe the damage visually, it looked like a spoon scooping into a slice of cake, Pitchaya reported. There was an elderly woman hanging upside down from a carriage... Another woman, whose right arm appeared to be broken, was holding onto her.
One of the train's carriages caught fire from the collision, complicating rescue efforts. Emergency responders utilized cranes and hydraulic tools to free passengers trapped in the wreckage.
People were screaming 'Help! Help!' as smoke began to rise, said Penporn Pumjantuek, a restaurant owner nearby. Oil from the train was spilling everywhere.
She noted feeling torn between fear and courage as she ventured in to assist before other rescuers arrived. I'm still scared when I think about it. Those moments were terrifying, she recalled.
A one-year-old child and an 85-year-old were among those injured. Seven individuals were reported to be in critical condition.
The crane involved in the accident was being utilized for an overhead railway project part of a US$5.4bn (£4bn) China-backed initiative to connect Bangkok with southwestern China via Laos.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has called for an investigation, while the State Railway of Thailand is suing the Italian-Thai Development Company, responsible for the section of railway where the incident took place.
This company has a history of construction accidents, including a recently collapsed Bangkok skyscraper during an earthquake.
Engineering professor Amorn Pimanmas suggested that human failures, rather than natural events, are to blame for this tragedy, emphasizing the need for strict enforcement of safety regulations in Thailand's construction sector.
