A chartered bus taking teachers from Chanthaburi to Doi Inthanon in Chiang Mai plunged into a river in Chiang Mai's Doi Saket district yesterday morning, killing 21 and injuring several others, police said.

Eyewitnesses said some of the victims were flung as far as 20 metres from the accident site, while others drowned in the river.

The accident occurred at about 9.30am on the Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai highway in Tambon Pa Miang, about 30 kilometres from Chiang Mai City.

The double-decker went out of control on a sharp curve near a bridge over Kuang River, overturned and plunged off a bridge into the river, police said. The injured were evacuated by helicopter to nearby hospitals.

The bus was hired to take teachers from eight schools in Chanthaburi's Pong Nam Ron district on a field trip to Chiang Rai. The bus left Chiang Rai at 7am for a tour of Doi Inthanon and the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 Exposition.

Bus driver Khamron Boonrat, 48, who sustained a broken arm and leg, told police that he had checked the bus before the trip and found a problem with the air brake. However, he decided to set off anyway to get to Doi Inthanon on schedule.

Khamron said the brakes failed on reaching the downhill curve and he tried to slow down and pull to the side of the road but the

front left tyre exploded, causing the bus to plunge off the two-metre-high bridge into the river below.

He has been charged with reckless driving leading to others' deaths.

Amnat Chayangkhanont, a teacher at Klong Bon Wittayalai School who was travelling with his wife, said the driver was speeding and lost control on the curve before the bus plunged into the river. Amnat sustained head injuries in the accident and still had no idea about the fate of his wife at the time he spoke to reporters.

Meanwhile, Chanthaburi Education Zone 2 director Somchai Jitneuang said that he had asked the director of Chiang Mai Education Zone 1 to assist the victims.

Somchai said he would provide assistance to the injured and the dead according to civil service procedure because the group was on an official trip to study teaching methods in the North and to visit the horticultural expo.

The Nation

Chiang Mai