Eight people were killed and three others injured when a pick-up truck was hit by a train at a railway crossing in Chachoengsao early on Friday morning.

The incident happened around 3am in the eastern province.

Police, along with medical personnel from a nearby hospital and a team of rescuers, found a freight train with its engine still running, on the rail track. The train, loaded with containers, was en route from Lat Krabang inland container depot to the Laem Chabang Port.

A heavily damaged Isuzu pick-up truck was found nearby, with the bodies of five men and three women scattered over the area.

Three people were injured, one of them seriously. They were rushed to hospital.

The pick-up driver told the police that he was taking a group of workers from Bangkok's Lat Krabang district to a fish farm.

As he approached the railway crossing, he noticed a warning light signalling the incoming train. However, a passenger told him to go ahead. So he tried to drive across the rail track.

The train collided with the left side of the pick-up, propelling it violently off the road. The workers in the back of the vehicle were thrown out, resulting in eight deaths and three injuries.

A survivor who was among the workers travelling in the pick-up said he decided to jump off the vehicle upon seeing the approaching train. Seconds later, the pick-up was hit struck by the train.