CHUMPHON: A passenger van rammed into a tree on the median of Highway 41 in Sawi district of this southern province on Sunday morning, killing the driver and five officials of the Marine Department and seriously wounding five other department officials, police said.
Police said the accident occurred at 11am at kilometre marker 40 of Highway 41 when the van with the driver and 10 Marine Department officials on board skidded off the road after the left front tyre burst.
Four people, including the van driver, were killed on the spot while seven others were seriously injured.
The injured were admitted to Sawi and Thung Tako hospitals. Two of them were later pronounced dead.
An investigation revealed that the van, driven by Det Juanchainat, 59, was hired to take the 10 officials of the Marine Department back to Bangkok after they had finished their assignments in Phuket.