KANCHANABURI: Four people, including Thai and Myanmar drivers and an Iranian tourist, were killed and another badly hurt when a pickup truck crashed head-on with a taxi in Sai Yok district in the early hours of Saturday.
The fatal crash happened at kilometre makers 107-108 on the Kanchanaburi-Sai Yok section of Highway 323 in tambon Lum Sum, said Pol Lt Chaiya Paiwan, deputy investigation chief at Sai Yok police station, who was reported shortly after midnight.
Police and rescue workers rushing to the scene found a taxi with Bangkok licence plates and a single-cab pickup truck with Nakhon Ratchasima licence plates. Both were badly damaged.
Three people died at the spot and two others were seriously hurt. All were trapped in the wreckage of the two vehicles.
The three dead people were Ms Rinphu-on Jongkol, 46, the taxi driver; Ms Kantamanee Konnakhon, 28, a Thai taxi passenger of Tak’s Mae Ramat; and a Myanmar man identified only as Khwanchai of Sai Yok district, who drove the pickup truck.
The two injured men -- Mojtaba Bakhtiaree, the Iranian taxi passenger; and Korawit Wiphobwatcharakun, 21, a pickup truck passenger -- were rushed to Sai Yok Hospital. The Iranian man was pronounced dead shortly later.
A police investigation found the taxi was on the way to send the Thai woman and the Iranian tourist to a resort in Sai Yok district. When the taxi arrived at the scene, the pickup truck travelling in the opposite direction suddenly rammed into it.
Police would interrogate more witnesses and the injured man, Mr Korawit, to find out the cause of the crash.
The Myanmar driver is killed and a Thai passenger badly hurt following the crash in Kanchanaburi. (Photo by Piyarach Chongcharoen)