Two die as overloaded school bus crashes

CHIANG RAI: -- A van carrying dozens of young schoolchildren overturned yesterday morning, leaving the driver and a four-year-old girl dead and 23 others injured, five of them seriously.

The accident occurred on the road from Phayao to Chiang Rai.

Phayao police chief Maj-General Rakchat Rajchakit said investigators were trying to determine the cause of the accident.

However, judging from initial eyewitness accounts, it was

likely that overloading and the vehicle’s age could be blamed, he said.

Sudin Dohe, who was riding his motorcycle behind the van before the accident, said he heard the sound of abrupt braking before the vehicle veered towards the road’s shoulder and overturned.

Those killed in the accident were identified as kindergarten student Panisa Buakhiao, 4, and driver Boonmee Anon, 56.

Five of those injured were in intensive care.

--The Nation 2005-06-22

I just saw this article but I saw the accident passing by on the bus. A bunch of Thai people were parked there and just staring while all the kids were still in the van flipped over. The driver swerved into the field avoiding a motorcyclist. The death count was 3 when I last heard. Another kid died three days later in the hospital.

as for the van, it looked okay to me.