TRAT: Three passengers were killed and 21 others hurt, including a one-year-old baby and a foreigner, when a bus hit a power pole and plunged into a ditch in Khao Saming district early Saturday.
The crash occurred around 3.30am on inbound Sukhumvit Road opposite Khao Saming Witthayakhom School, said Pol Lt Pratchaya Pinarat, a duty officer at the Khao Saming station.
The tour bus, carrying about 50 passengers, left the Ekkamai bus terminal in Bangkok for Trat at 10.15pm. Along the way, some passengers got off in Chanthaburi province and in Klaeng district of Rayong, leaving 22 passengers on board.
When the bus arrived in Khao Saming, it started to shake before it hit a power pole and then plunged into a ditch dividing the road, said Pol Lt Pratchaya, quoting witnesses.
The force of the crash killed two women and one man instantly. Twenty-one others, including a foreign man and a one-year-old baby whose mother was killed, were hurt. The injured, 10 of them in serious condition, were rushed to nearby hospitals. The bus belonged to Cherdchai Tour Co.
Police said they believed driver Khampeeree Manee-on, 56, who was among the injured, might have fallen asleep at the wheel. The investigation is continuing.