Chiang Rai’s Phu Chee-fah was on Tuesday declared a disaster zone after the cave-in of a section of the mountain road leading to the popular tourist destination which subsequently pulled down five roadside shophouses.

Four other shophouses, including a tourist service centre, located nearby are on the verge of collapsing.

Governor Prachon Pratsakun, Thoen district chief Niwat Ngarmthura and military officers from Pa Muang task force and the 37^th army circle rushed to the scene in Ban Rom Fa Thai village, Thoeng district, to inspect the damages caused by the road cave-in.

Officials blocked the road about 100 metres from the scene of the cave-in and banned motorists from using the road as half of the road sank underground together with five shophouses.

The Thoeng district chief blamed the cave-in on heavy rains for the past seven running days, causing the earth under the road to cave in.  He said that about 99 mm/day of rain water was dumped into the district for the past three days running.

As a temporary measure to resume traffic, he said a movable steel bridge would be installed at the section where the road caved in after which a major repair would be undertaken to close the huge gap on the road.