Pick-up overturns in Samut Prakan, killing 13

Rescue volunteers help people in a pickup truck that overturned in Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan on Sunday. (Photo by Sutthiwit Chayutworakan)

SAMUT PRAKAN: An overloaded pickup truck overturned in Bang Phli district of this central province early on Sunday, killing 13 students from a technical college in the northeastern province of Si Sa Ket and seriously wounding the driver, police said.

Pol Lt Col Samran Chuaythao, a Bang Kaew police duty officer, said the accident occurred at about 1am on King Kaew road.

A taxi driver who witnessed the accident told police that shortly before 1am he saw a pick-up truck turn from Soi King Kaew 2 onto the main King Kaew road at high speed. While heading for Lat Krabang in the right lane, the pick-up suddenly skidded off the road onto the pavement, rammed into two roadside power posts and overturned.

Twelve students riding on the rear of the pick-up were thrown onto the road by the violent impact and killed instantly, their bodies scattered on the road. Five other students sitting inside the vehicle were seriously injured, along with the driver.

The six injured were rushed to Chularat 9 Hospital for treatment. One of the five students later succumbed to their injuries at the hospital, raising the death toll to 13.

A police investigation revealed that that the 17 dead were students at Si Sa Ket Technical College. They were participating in a job training exercise at a garage called Patara Body Service in Soi King Kaew 22/2.

On Saturday, the last day of the job training, a party was held at the garage until late into the night to celebrate the end of the training. The students, who had been served with beer and other alcohol, then went on to Soi King Kaew 2 for an Isan-style mor lam show.

The accident occurred after they left the show.

Police were examining footage from all security cameras in the area and said they would seek to establish the cause of the accident by interviewing the driver, who was seriously injured, when he recovers.