BURI RAM: A couple and their two young children were killed when a pickup truck crossed the centre-line and hit the family's pickup head-on in Muang district early on Thursday night.

The fatal crash occurred on the inbound  side of the Buri Ram-Satuk Road in tambon Ban Yang about 6.20pm.

Pol Capt Thaweesil Srisuriyachai, of Muang police station, said emergency responders found a badly damaged white Mazda pickup up with Buri Ram licence plates overturned on the road. 

The driver Theerapong Sudjarittham, 45, was lying unconscious on the road. He was rushed to Buri Ram Hospital, and later pronounced dead. 

Nearby, a wrecked white Toyota Vigo pickup truck with Khon Kaen licence plates was stopped off the side of the road, the front caved-in. Three people, one a 9-year-old boy, were dead inside the vehicle. A severely injured 4-year-old boy was found in the roadside grass. He died soon after.

The four victims in the Vigo were a family - driver Veerawut Inthachak, 32, his wife Pasda Photimas and their two sons, Pol Capt Thaweesil said.

Police investigators learned the driver of the Mazda pickup truck was travelling from downtown Muang district, apparently lost control and the vehicle crossed over the centre-line, colliding with the oncoming Vigo, heading towards the town.

The investigation was continuing.