PHITSANULOK: Two people were burned to death when a car they were travelling in caught fire after hitting a roadside tree in Muang district in the early hours of Monday.
The fatal crash occurred on Highway 126 at Ban Krang intersection in tambon Plai Chumphon shortly after midnight, said Pol Capt Anuwat Wattanakornkarun, deputy investigation chief at Muang police station.
Three fire trucks were called to the scene to combat the fire that had engulfed a Toyota car. Firemen took more than 20 minutes to extinguish the flames.
The driver and a female passenger were found burned beyond recognition inside the car. Rescue workers retrieved them from the wreckage.
Police believed the car might have been travelling at high speed or the driver might have dozed off before the car skidded off the road and slammed into the tree. They were investigating the exact cause of the fatal crash.
The dead victims were later identified on Monday morning after a relative arrived at a hospital to view the bodies.
Kritsana On-prom, 24, of Phitsanulok’s Wat Bot district, told police that the pair had been identified as Kittiphan Wansen, 22, and Ms Sirima Panchueng, 33. The woman was his girlfriend, said Mr Kritsana, who contacted police seeing pictures of the burned car and its licence plate online.
He said Mr Kittiphan, a deputy manager of a Lotus Express store by Wat Chuthamanee in Phitsanulok, and Ms Sirima, a deputy manager of a Lotus Express branch in Ban Krang, were returning to a dormitory in Muang district after celebrating Songkran festival with colleagues.
A car burst into flames after hitting a roadside tree in Phitsanulok. (Photo by Chinnawat Singha)
(Photo by Chinnawat Singha)