PHRAE -- Three people were killed and six others injured when a pickup truck they were travelling in overturned on the Chiang Rai- Phrae road in Song district of this northern province on Wednesday night, police said.
Pol Capt Pasit Thaowalya, the duty officer at Song police station, said the accident occurred about 10pm between kilometre markers 24-25 near Ban Lu in tambon Huay Mai.
Police and rescue workers dispatched there found a black Ford Ranger pickup lying on its side beside the road. Near the vehicle were the dead bodies of two men and a woman, identified later as In Inkham, 71, Peng Khamsom, 66, and Supaporn Inchai, 40, all from Chiang Rai's Mae Suay district.
Wacharat Inkham, 33, the driver, said he was taking nine passengers - six sitting in the cab and three others on the back - from Chiang Rai to Phitsanulok for a funeral.
While driving along the Chiang Rai - Phrae road one of the right wheels came off a trailer truck in front of him. He was startled and quickly spun the steering wheel to try and avoid it The sudden turn caused the pickup to overturn.
The six other passengers, including a nine-year-old girl, were injured. They were admitted to Song Hospital.