LAMPANG — Four Myanmar workers and the Thai driver were killed when their pickup truck was struck by an 18-wheel trailer truck whose driver fell asleep driving along a road in Ngao district overnight.
Ngao police investigator Pol Lt Jakkarat Tanburawong said Somkid Roongpaopan, 37, was driving a trailer truck loaded with corn along the two-lane Ngao-Song Road early on Tuesday morning. He dozed off at the wheel and his vehicle ran head-on into a Bangkok-registered pickup truck in the opposite lane.
The pickup driver, identified as Siam Pinthong 31, and two Myanmar migrant workers, a man and a woman, died on the spot. Six other Myanmar workers on the pickup were injured and taken to Ngao hospital, where two succumbed to their injuries.
A surviving passenger said he saw the truck veering from side to side across the road before the collision.
Mr Somkid, from Petchabun, told police he simply blacked out. The truck overturned and he became aware of what had happened only when rescue workers pulled him out of the vehicle. He was unhurt and surrendered to police after the crash.
The long-haul truck driver admitted he had not had enough sleep for several days as he was trying to meet the deadline in transporting corn from the northern province of Phayao to the central provinces.
He was arrested and charged with reckless driving causing deaths.
Pol Lt Jakkarat said the Myanmar workers took leave from work in a central province and were heading home to Chiang Rai. The collision occurred on a narrow road used as a shortcut between Ngao and Phrae’s Song district. There were frequent serious accidents on the road, he said.