Horrific midnight accident claims 10 lives, injures 2
Ten people were killed and two severely injured late on Wednesday when two passenger vehicles crashed into an 18-wheel trailer truck, which had overturned and blocked the road, in the north-eastern province of Buri Ram.
The accident happened at midnight on the Chokechai-Dej Udom Road in Ban Nongman village, Tambon Nongki of Nongki district. Police said the 18-wheel trailer, carrying rice from Nakhon Sawan to Nakhon Ratchasima, apparently skidded on the slippery road following rains and overturned, blocking the road. A van with five passengers and a pick-up truck with seven passengers, which were following close behind, crashed into the truck, instantly killing nine people including the van driver, Nava Boonleum, 35. The pick-up truck driver, Siriwut Passada, 49, later died in hospital while his wife, Oranuj Passada, 34, and their three-year-old son, Santiham, died at the scene. Police were hunting for the truck driver who fled the scene. Meanwhile, in Nakhon Ratcha-sima, 36 people, most of them students of Pakthongchai Prachanira-mit School, were injured when their vehicle was hit by a speeding six-wheel truck yesterday morning, police said. The accident occurred at 8.05am on the Ratchasima-Kabin Buri Road in Tambon Nok-ok of Pakthongchai District. A police investigation found the student's vehicle had stopped and was about to get back on the road again when the speeding truck of Chat Thai Supply Ltd, loaded with plastic products from Chon Buri, rammed into its rear, sending both vehicles into the roadside ditch. The injured students, five of whom were severely wounded, were rushed to Pakthongchai and Nakhon Ratchasima hospitals. The driver of the speeding truck, Thongdee Boonthamthan, 41, tried to hide in the woods but police later apprehended him. Police also found an open bottle of rice whisky near the driver's seat and suspected Thongdee was guilty of drunk driving. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Kosit Panpiemras, who is in charge of the government's road-safety centre, said authorities had plans to keep road casualties during the new year festive season to below 410 deaths and 4,555 injuries. Kosit said the government projected there should be no more than 4,001 accidents during the long holiday period. He said 3,036 police checkpoints would be set up across the country to reinforce traffic laws and all provinces had been instructed to act at the accident-prone spots of their roads. The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department has received a Bt62-million budget from the government to buy tools and pay its operating officials, director-general Anucha Mokawet said.
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