Two people were killed and five others seriously injured when their pickup truck full of offerings for merit-making slammed into the rear of a truck loaded with sugar cane in Kanchanaburi late Tuesday night, police said.
The accident occured as the 10-wheel truck was about to enter a nearby sugar factory at kilometre makers 9-10 in tambon Takram-aen of Tha Makha district about 10pm.
The pickup truck with a Bangkok license plate, carrying seven people, suddenly rear-ended the truck, said Pol Lt Manop Prachasuk, a duty officer at Tharua Phrathaen police station.
Police found the body of the driver, identified later as Pinit Boonnak, 67, and his wife Uthai Boonnak, 62, dead at the scene with broken necks. Five others were seriously injured. Rescue workers helped retrieve their bodies from the wreckage.
The injured, including four men and one woman, were rushed to a nearby hospital.
According to a police investigation, the people in the pickup were on their way home to make merit for Makha Bucha Day as several sets of offerings were found in the back of the vehicle. When their pickup truck arrived at the scene, the driver might have failed to notice the truck about to enter the factory.
Police are tracking down the truck driver who fled after the crash.