CHAI NAT: A 67-year-old monk suffered leg and knee injuries when he crashed his pickup truck while driving under the influence of alcohol in Manorom district on Wednesday.
Rescue workers called to the scene said the red pickup, registered in Sing Buri province, ran into a safety wall alongside the median-strip flood ditch on Highway 32 in tambon Tha Chanuan.
It had a broken windscreen and extensive damage to the right front side.
Inside the vehicle, they found Phra Phayon Jaruthammo, of Wat Lad Pla Duk in Bang Bua Thong district of Nonthaburi, still at the wheel and smelling strongly of alcohol. There were also a monk's robe, a bottle of energy drink and a knife.
The monk said he had just attended a funeral in his home village in Phayuha Khiri district of Nakhon Sawan, where he drank a bottle of liquor before leaving, intending to drive back to Nonthaburi.
The accident occurred about five minutes after police received a report of a fast-moving pickup being driven erratically on the national highway.