11 students injured when their vehicle plunges into roadside canal

PATHUM THANI: -- A pick-up truck modified as students vehicle plunged into a roadside canal here, injuring 11 students inside.

The accident happened at 8 am on the road along Klong Sibsam canal in Thanyaburi district.

The pick-up truck was taking students to schools in the area. When the accident happened, 11 students remained inside the truck.

The students, who are between 7 to 12 years old, swam ashore. They were rushed to the Srinakharinviroj Hospital in Ongkharak district.

-- The Nation 2009-12-11

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Was it a [school or private] mini-bus? The article is unclear, but it would seem so, as the kids are described as being inside at the time of the de-tour into the water.

Hope all will be alright and not suffer any long-term effects.

Quite probably driving far too fast with people in the back. Too many of these modified pick-ups are unsafe and not roadworthy as well. Incidents like this highlight just how dangerous the roads in Thailand are and how little responsibility and care is taken, countrywide, and on a daily basis.

Driver training and education is a priority in Thailand, however without proper enforcement of the laws reducing Thailand's road death toll is impossible.

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Was it a [school or private] mini-bus? The article is unclear

The article is perfectly clear, it was a modified pick-up truck.

Another case of "the vehicle lost control" perhaps? Interesting that so many of these types of stories here fail to mention why the accident happened, even if it is unknown, it should say that. There is a very different style of reporting in Thailand than in western countries. I feel that is a symptom of the desire to not place blame and cause the drivers to lose face.

Edited December 11, 200916 yr by ScubaBuddha

School transport vehicles are often driven in an extremely dangerous fashion--even by Thai standards. Some school buses (vans) have to make multiple runs and are driven carelessly in order to get all the students to school on time.

Very sad.

Amen to above. I see school vans everyday on the roads, to include in my moo baan, driving way too fast, taking curves almost on two wheels, etc. They must be in a rush to make multiple runs.

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Was it a [school or private] mini-bus? The article is unclear

The article is perfectly clear, it was a modified pick-up truck.

Sorry for being unclear, was in a phone-call. I mean if it was in the style of a mini-bus or like the 5baht buses with seats in the back of a pickup truck. I forget their name...one can modify a pickup in many ways but i thought the latter usually was described with the name I am not unable to remember.

Sounds like a songthaew, pick up truck with benches in the back and canopy overhead. Good thing they were able to swim.

sad to see that drivers here can't distinguish between human & cargo

sad to see that drivers here can't distinguish between human & cargo

You’re in Ubon and the traffic is pretty strange there, right? Also here in Sisaket are lots of schools and most of the students have no other choice than to take a Songtaew to get to school. But please, we don’t know what really happened, or? A flat tire or other mechanical malfunctions could also be the reason why this accident has happened. Let’s hope that those students are okay.

'TAWP' date='2009-12-11 11:07:30' post='3195632']

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Was it a [school or private] mini-bus? The article is unclear, but it would seem so, as the kids are described as being inside at the time of the de-tour into the water.

Hope all will be alright and not suffer any long-term effects.

Put your spectacles on and read again , magnified here A MODIFIED PICKUP .

Yeah well the words ' Modified pickup' could cover everything from the govt owned bus where bits and pieces of it have been 'resoursed' to other vehicles or somchai pride and joy racer.

Its a pity that public passenger vehicles here arnt regulated just a little bit more, especially when considering that most of them are carrying around thailands future.

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Was it a [school or private] mini-bus? The article is unclear

The article is perfectly clear, it was a modified pick-up truck.

There are many kinds of modified pick up truck. The 2 most common as used for school trips are to put a cage over the back and add 2 benches or sometimes 3 to create a songtaew, whilst the other is to create an ad hoc rot dtoo complete with very bad air con and one sliding door. The latter could well be a death trap in a canal as it would be much harder to escape.

On a brighter note, little Jao did not have to hand in his homework assignment because it was lost in the water.

Sure beats the dog ate it excuse.

Thank you guys for your explanations on various ways pick-ups can be modified , but i do not believe that school mini-buses look anything like those , despite all of that , the article quite specifically mentioned pick-up , so what is your real point ?

The point was to ask for facts, not speculation or insults. But thanks anyway.

Should you be referencing me , I gave no speculation or insults , just the facts .

As a side bar , many countries have banned using cell phones whilst driving , it was proven that can cause accidents , doing two things at the same time can and does cause errors , you wish to be PC , think about it .