Truck crash in southern Thailand kills 8 students, driver

HAT YAI, Thailand (AP) — A pickup truck carrying a group of students in southern Thailand careened Tuesday onto a traffic island and hit some trees, killing eight of the students and the driver, police said.

Police Lt. Sujin Srithong said the accident occurred in the southern province of Narathiwat when the driver apparently fell asleep at the wheel. He said four other students were hospitalized in serious condition.

Trucks are often used for group transportation in Thailand.

Several studies have found that Thailand has one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the world. A World Health Organization survey ranked it second worst after Namibia.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-08-12

8 students and a driver killed in a road accident in Tak Bai

HAT YAI: -- Eight students and the driver of a modified school bus were killed when the vehicle rammed into a row of trees on an island in the middle of a road in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district on Tuesday.

Three other students were also seriously injured in the accident in Ban Sapom, Tambon Praiwan.

Pol Lt Suchin Srithong, the duty officer of Tak Bai district police, said that the driver whose name was not known at press time took the students from Nara Sikhalai school to have them sent home.

During the journey, the officer said he suspected the driver might have fallen asleep momentarily causing the school bus which was modified from a pick-up truck to veer off course and crashed into a row of trees in the middle of the road.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/8-students-and-a-driver-killed-in-a-road-accident-in-tak-bai


-- Thai PBS 2015-08-12

More carnage on Thai roads...When are they going to wake up?

We have a school bus driver who turns up drunk. in the bus taking kids to school.

Who has to report this?

No one else will. So I do it. Do they care? Not sure yet. Will post.

I travelled a lot in Namibia and never saw as much carnage on the roads as we see in Thailand.. About time they claimed the top spot !

More carnage on Thai roads...When are they going to wake up?

The bumpiness of the truck coming off the road probably wakes them up.

I travelled a lot in Namibia and never saw as much carnage on the roads as we see in Thailand.. About time they claimed the top spot !

Sad but true.

They only count the dead at the scene of the accident, if you die on the way to hospital you only get listed as injured.

They are trying to avoid the top spot and be known as "The Hub of road Deaths"

R.i.P. to all of the Innocent lives lost.

I know this is News, but it's boring now.. As it's an everyday fact here in Thailand....

I am sure the new police chief will have more road checks. Very sad news day by day!!

Thailand must have the only clairvoyant police in the World,

they seem to know ,what happened in lots of accidents,deaths,

suicides etc,within minutes of viewing the scene.

regards Worgeordie RIP the dead,more wasted lives.

Isn't about time, Thailand made all passenger carrying vehicles subject to more stringent licences and also have the spy in the cab technology as well as speed governors fitted. I can't remember the number of times I see Coaches, buses, school buses as well as truck taxis passing me, and I am doing 90 kph.

Most drivers seem absolutely oblivious to the traffic on the road going from one lane to another with narry a signal.

Police turn a blind eye as if they have been paid off.

Thailand deservces the top spot on deaths as well as the top spot of incompetent uncaring and useless Traffic law enforcers.

That was my wife's school.

RIP.

Another Day another tragic accident will they never learn lovey mothers day present RIP

More carnage on Thai roads...When are they going to wake up?

They will not wake up. It's not about 'waking up'. It culls the 'Useless Eaters' as Henry (The Human-Sauage) Kissinger once noted. Killing the poor on the road helps keep the population in check. If you're human cargo in the back of a truck or on a motorcycle, you fit the criteria for 'Elimination via Thai Transportation Services'. Human rights don't mean a whole lot here. There has been plenty of press on that lately, and the government response has pretty much been the equivalent to a shoulder shrug.

Ever see a VIP go by in a motorcade of about 30 vans, multiple motorcycles, police cars: The Top of The Food Chain don't worry at all about getting killed in a road accident. That's for the 'little people'.

We have a school bus driver who turns up drunk. in the bus taking kids to school.

Who has to report this?

No one else will. So I do it. Do they care? Not sure yet. Will post.

Have a quite work to the school Director. They are often in charge of employing the drivers to serve the kids from their school.

"Several studies have found that Thailand has one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the world. A World Health Organization survey ranked it second worst after Namibia."

Wow what a study ! A vast desert country with 2,1 million people , barely any roads .....and Thailand with 67 million + foreigners , vast roadnetwork and too many motorbikes.

So, so very sad. R.I.P. children.

I guess the driver is in a sense lucky he is not around to deal with the fallout.

Someday Thailand may come into the real world and outlaw children and all people in the back of a truck, but it will be many, many years down the road because people are too poor to afford proper transportation such as school buses. This is the government failing their citizens.

I travelled a lot in Namibia and never saw as much carnage on the roads as we see in Thailand.. About time they claimed the top spot !

Sad but true.

They only count the dead at the scene of the accident, if you die on the way to hospital you only get listed as injured.

I wish someone would prove this often repeated chestnut just one time to me about this dead/injured thing. I doubt anyone really can. And I don't mean "a policeman told me" or "an ambulance guy said so". I mean some real proof.

I don't know if it's true or not but there are so many thing here that are told as fact that are actually urban myths.

I've asked to see some sorta proof on other such threads and no one has done it yet.

We have a school bus driver who turns up drunk. in the bus taking kids to school.

Who has to report this?

No one else will. So I do it. Do they care? Not sure yet. Will post.

Have a quite work to the school Director. They are often in charge of employing the drivers to serve the kids from their school.

Breathalise them if they pick up from school, bring in the death penalty for causing death by wreckless use of a motor vehicle.

Tragic loss of innocent life again.

RIP.

...they do not mention time of day for the accident.....???

...so sad.......completely senseless....

We have a school bus driver who turns up drunk. in the bus taking kids to school.

Who has to report this?

No one else will. So I do it. Do they care? Not sure yet. Will post.

Have a quite work to the school Director. They are often in charge of employing the drivers to serve the kids from their school.

Breathalise them if they pick up from school, bring in the death penalty for causing death by wreckless use of a motor vehicle.

Tragic loss of innocent life again.

RIP.

Totally useless suggestion. No realistic expectation it could happen in a third world country.

I have become desensitized with these daily news reports.

More carnage on Thai roads...When are they going to wake up?

The bumpiness of the truck coming off the road probably wakes them up.

Stupid insensitive reply.next time don't bother.

I travelled a lot in Namibia and never saw as much carnage on the roads as we see in Thailand.. About time they claimed the top spot !

Sad but true.

They only count the dead at the scene of the accident, if you die on the way to hospital you only get listed as injured.

I wish someone would prove this often repeated chestnut just one time to me about this dead/injured thing. I doubt anyone really can. And I don't mean "a policeman told me" or "an ambulance guy said so". I mean some real proof.

I don't know if it's true or not but there are so many thing here that are told as fact that are actually urban myths.

I've asked to see some sorta proof on other such threads and no one has done it yet.

Here's a news article that mentions it when comparing Govt and WHO stats.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/131679/thailand-road-deaths/

Take PRIDE, Thailand....#2 in the world for TRAFFIC DEATHS! And it won't stop, body counts keep on climbing. Imagine what some real police work could accomplish.

More carnage on Thai roads...When are they going to wake up?

A very unfortunate turn of phrase in this instance considering the cause of the accident....RIP. All.

To the 50% who seem to have forgotten what compassion is, you will probably die angry and alone.

To the other 50% of posters, thanks for saying what needs to be said. Rest in Peace.

So, so very sad. R.I.P. children.

I guess the driver is in a sense lucky he is not around to deal with the fallout.

Someday Thailand may come into the real world and outlaw children and all people in the back of a truck, but it will be many, many years down the road because people are too poor to afford proper transportation such as school buses. This is the government failing their citizens.

It is already illegal to ride in the back of a pickup. Just another law that is never enforced, and so people die and will continue to die, every day somewhere in Thailand.

I have become desensitized with these daily news reports.

It just makes me scared.