SA KAEO - Two people were killed and 23 soldiers injured when a pickup truck loaded with bananas and other fruit crashed head-on with a military truck in Wattana Nakhon district on Thursday morning.
The crash occurred at Nong Namsai junction on Wattana-Khokhan Ta Phraya Road in tambon Nong Namsai.
Pol Col Apiwat Susuk, a duty officer at Nong Makfai police station, said it was reported to police about 6.30am.
Witnesses told police the pickup, with a cargo of bananas, betel nut and other fruit, tried unsuccessfully to overtake another vehicle. Instead, it collide head-on with a military truck carrying soldiers and seedlings.
The pickup driver, Udom Kasaothong and his wife Sa-nga, 48, were killed. Another unidentified passenger on the vehicle was injured. All three were trapped in the wreckage. The fruit was left scattered over the road.
The impact left the six-wheel army truck lying on its side on the edge of the road. Twenty-three soldiers travelling on it were injured.
Polie investigators said the pickup was heading to Buri Ram. The army truck was taking soldiers to plant tree seedlings at a forest area in Chachoengsao's Tha Kakiab district.
The wreckage of the demolished pickup lies by the front wheels of the six-wheel army truck following the head-on fatal crash in Sa Kaeo's Wattana Nakhon district on Thursday morning. (Photo by Sawat Ketngam)