Seven people were killed and three others injured when their van slammed into a parked ten-wheel truck in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Chok Chai district early Saturday morning.
Pol Lt Kriangsak Chaisan, duty officer at the Chokechai police station, said the accident occurred on the Sikiew-Chok Chai road at Ban Nong Phai in tambon Chok Chai at about 4.50am.
He led a team of police to inspect the scene and found seven bodies lying dead, both inside the wrecked passenger van and on the road.
They also took three injured passengers -- Seerae Chaiwang, 63, Maliwan Puangsuwan, 65, Piriya Intaravanich, 60 -- to Chok Chai Hospital.
The dead victims were identified as Sithiporn Sathansathit, 61, the driver of the van; Banjong Janjira, 60; Yupha Lao-auyporn 63; Chuanpit Sermsilp, and three other women whose names were not immediately known, aged around 60-69 years.
Mrs Piriya told police that she and her friends were travelling from Nakhon Pathom to make merit at a temple in Khantaralak district of Si Sa Ket. She was asleep when the accident occurred and did not know what was happened.
Police suspected that the van's driver, Mr Sithiporn, had dozed off and the van veered into the truck as a result.