PRACHIN BURI: The driver of a four-door pickup was killed and his wife seriously injured when their vehicle crashed into an 18-wheel trailer truck that swerved and completely blocked Highway 33 in Muang district on Tuesday night.
The collision occurred about 10.30pm between kilometre markers 154-155 at Ban Hua Khao village in tambon Ban Phra, Muang police duty officer Pol Lt Anop Thongkham said.
Rampai Chaiyaka, 36, the trailer truck driver, told police he was returning to Bangkok from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, after completing a delivery, with empty containers on the back.
He was approaching Prachin Buri town in light rain on a downhill stretch and braked to slow down on seeing an oncoming car. This caused the truck to swerve and slide across the slippery road, and end up blocking both sides of the highway.
A pickup coming in the opposite direction crashed into the middle of the truck. This caused a container to fall off the back. It landed on the roof of the pickup, crushing it.
Rescuers used a hydraulic jack to force open the pickup and extract the two seriously injured occupants.
The driver, Tan Buathong, and his wife, Panisa Sikane, were rushed to Chao Phraya Aphaiphubet Hospital in Prachin Buri. The husband was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
Traffic on that part of Highway 33 was brought to a halt. The road was reopened around midnight, after the crash wreckage was cleared off it.
Isares Suwisuthicharoen, headman of Ban Hua Khao, said this section of the highway was prone to accidents because the four lanes suddenly narrowed to two lanes, one in each direction, forming a bottleneck.