PHRAE: Two elderly people collecting teak seeds along a roadside in Muang district were killed when a pickup truck collided with a car and then ran off the road and hit them on Sunday.
The two relatives, Huan Jorjong, 76, and Sombat Khuenkaew, 64, had only a short time before cast their votes at a nearby polling station.
The fatal accident happened around noon on Phrae-Long Road in tambon Pamed, Pol Capt Narong Sonklin, a duty-officer at Muang police station said.
Police called to the scene found a Ford car with damage to its front stalled on the road and a damaged Isuzu pickup truck nearby in a ditch dividing the road. Both drivers waited for police to arrive.
Huan, a woman, was lying dead on the side of the road and Sombat was nearby, unconscious with serious injuries. Rescue workers rushed him to a nearby hospital, but he died shortly after.
Police investigators reported the pickup truck, driven by Kiatisak Lekkaew, 61, was heading to downtown Muang district when the car, driven by Pol Sgt Maj Phisit Boonmasueb, 65, came out of a nearby side street. Mr Kiatisak could not brake in time and his vehicle ran into the smaller car.
The force of the crash caused the pickup driver to lose control, and the vehicle ran off the road and hit the two elderly people collecting teak seeds in the centre dividing ditch.
The two elderly victims had cast their ballots at a polling station at Village Moo 1 in tambon Pamed late in the morning, before collecting the abundant teak seeds under the trees along the road.
Their votes will count.
Rescue workers prepare to take the 64-year-old injured man to hospital, where he died shortly after. The 76-year-old relative he was collecting teak seeds with died on the spot. They were killed by a pickup which hit another car and then spun off the road, in Phrae's Muang district on Sunday. (Photo by Taweeporn Sukkasem)