SONGKHLA: Eighteen people were injured after a chartered bus with 56 passengers including children on board crashed into the ditch in the median of the Asian Highway in Hat Yai district on Saturday night, police said.
The 56 passengers were from Nathawi district of Songkhla who on Saturday chartered the bus to take them to Wat Bangpho temple in Krabi province for a traditional tod krathin ceremony.
According to information from the passengers, at about 10.30pm, while nearing Ban Na Khuan in the Khuan Lang Municipality on the way back to Songkhla, the bus veered off the highway and crashed into the median ditch, ending up lying on one side.
Rescuers soon arrived at the scene and helped the passengers out. Eighteen were injured, most of them slightly, and admitted to Hat Yai and Songkhla Nakarin hospitals. The driver was not hurt.
Police were investigating the cause of the accident.