Cattle truck crashes into train, blocks southern line

Derailed passenger carriages from the No.255 train, from Thon Buri to Lang Suan, lay along the rails after a 10-wheel truck loaded with cattle crashed into them at the crossing between Phetchaburi and Khao Thamon in tambon Ton Mamuang in Muang district on Friday. Three people died in the crash - the truck driver, a truck passenger and a monk who was a train passenger. (Photos by Chaiwat Satyeam)

PHETCHABURI — Three people were confirmed killed and 34 others injured when a speeding cattle truck ploughed into the side of a passenger train at a railway crossing, causing a major derailment, in Muang district on Friday morning.

Five carriages of the No.255 train on the Thon Buri-Lang Suan route were toppled from the tracks. The accident blocked the southern line, halting trains to and from Bangkok.

The crash occurred at a crossing between Phetchaburi and Khao Thamone in tambon Ton Mamuang of Muang district around 10.35am.

Three people were confirmed killed and 34 people injured. Rescue workers rushed the injured to a nearby hospital, where it was later reported two of them died.

The remains of the 10-wheeler, with the front cab totally destroyed in the crash. (Photo by Chaiwat Satyaem)

Truck driver Lek Yodmoke, 43, was found dead in what remained of the driver's seat, and his passenger Somchai Arkham, 33, was found dead outside the vehicle.

One train passenger was confirmed killed. A monk, Phra Yuen Thongwee, 70, was from a temple in Pranburi district of Prachuap Khiri Khan. His body was found in the wreckage of the sixth carriage.

The heavily loaded truck was reported to have been speeding as it approached the crossing, and crashed through the lowered safety barrier into the side of the train. The truck was carrying 21 cattle. Some were seriously injured and seen lying on the ground, but none died immediately in the crash

Train driver Somchai Naksaenphaya said he left Hua Lamphong about 7.30am and stopped at Phetchaburi station about 10.35am. After pulling out of the station the train headed towards Khao Thamone and the railway crossing, the accident scene.

The barriers were already lowered, halting traffic, as he approached. But as the train went through the crossing, a 10-wheeler truck carrying a load of cattle had rammed into the side of the seventh carriage, causing the derailment. Four other carriages were pulled off the track as the carriage toppled.

Video by Pattanapong Hirunard