Thailand: Road accident with 11 dead, including two children

A minibus was involved in a traffic accident and caught fire, killing eleven people, including two children, in Nakhon Ratchasima province (central Thailand), a police officer announced today.

The accident unfolded on Saturday night in the expressway’s high-speed lane when the van, carrying twelve people from Amnat Yaroen (east) to the capital Bangkok, veered off the road and ended up on its side in the center divider.

A young man was able to get out of the minibus before the fire broke out, but not the others, who were trapped inside the passenger compartment and “died in the fire”, a police officer told AFP.

The sole survivor, a 20-year-old student, had fallen asleep when he was woken up by a scream at the time of the crash, he told Thai public broadcaster PBS.

“I was kicking the windows, I broke one and managed to get out through a narrow hole,” said the young man. “A short time later, the minibus exploded,” he added.

The flames spread throughout the car in about thirty seconds, a member of the rescue team who tried to the scene told public Thai television.

According to the first information collected by the police, the fire was caused by fuel: the minibus had a tank with natural gas, which did not leak.

An investigation is underway to determine why the fatal van veered off course, went over the guardrail and ended up overturning in the center median of the freeway, according to authorities.

The fatal crash, amid Lunar New Year celebrations, is a reminder of how dangerous road transport is in Thailand, a country notorious for its innumerable traffic accidents.

According to the latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO), which dates back to 2019, the kingdom has a road traffic fatality rate that is double the average for the rest of Southeast Asia

RES-EMP

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