A speeding interprovincial bus was severely damaged when it ran into the back of a 10-wheeler truck queueing at a checkpoint on the Asian Highway in Bang Pa-in district of Ayutthaya province on Tuesday morning.
Rescue workers inspect the crash scene on the Asian Highway in Bang Pa-in district of Ayutthaya on Tuesday. (Photo by Sunthorn Pongpao)
The Transport Co bus from Bangkok was bound for Chai Nat province.
It smashed into the rear of a 10-wheeler carrying a tractor, driving it forward and damaging two pickup trucks waiting in front of it at the checkpoint outside the Bang Pa-in highway office in Khlong Chik sub-district about 10am.
Police and motorists who were paying fines on the roadside fled for their lives, reports said.
No one was killed but four people on the bus and in the pickup trucks were injured.
Udomsak Khaonuna, local disaster prevention and mitigation official, said bus driver Somkiat Rachakul, 33, appeared to be in a bad temper after the crash. Witnesses said the bus approached the checkpoint too fast and could not stop.
The bus driver kept blaming the accident on brake failure.
Mr Udomsak said he would check with the Transport Co if the braking system of the bus had been well maintained before the accident.