Rescue Teams Save 19-Month-Old Child Trapped in Truck Crash

Pictures courtesy of Naewna.

Rescue workers successfully saved a 19 months old child trapped inside the wreckage of an 18-wheel truck that plunged down a ravine in Khun Jae National Park. The crash claimed the life of the child’s mother and left the father in critical condition.

In the early hours of 10 August, police officers from Mae Jadhee Police Station in Wiang Pa Pao District, Chiang Rai Province, along with the Amarin Tai Disaster Response Rescue Association and several other volunteer rescue organisations, responded to a crash on Highway 118, the Chiang Rai–Chiang Mai route. The crash occurred near the Khun Jae National Park headquarters, in Ban Khun Lao, Moo 7, Mae Jadhee Mai Subdistrict.

According to Police Colonel Suphap Khueankaew, Chief of Mae Jadhee Police Station, the location is a steep, four-lane highway section descending from Doi Nang Kaeo mountain, near the Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai provincial boundary. Despite protective concrete barriers installed along sharp bends, the truck had struck and crossed over the barrier, falling into a deep ravine.

At the scene, rescuers found the 18-wheel truck severely damaged with its wheels lifted off the ground. The driver, a man trapped inside the vehicle, was critically injured. Nearby lay the body of a woman, believed to be the driver’s wife, who had been thrown from the truck and died at the scene. Both were rushed urgently to Wiang Pa Pao Hospital.

Rescue workers also heard the cries of a young girl, approximately 19 months old, trapped beneath the wreckage. Carefully extracting the child, rescuers found her frightened but unharmed and immediately transported her to hospital for treatment.

Authorities quickly coordinated with related agencies to care for the child and notified her relatives. The incident site has been known for frequent crashes due to its steep, winding nature. The police have issued warnings for motorists to exercise extreme caution on this stretch of road and have installed additional warning lights to prevent future incidents.

  Adapted by Asean Now from Naewna 2025-08-11