KANCHANABURI: Four illegal Myanmar migrants were killed and nine others injured after a car overturned on Highway 323 in Sangkhla Buri district of this western border province early on Sunday.
Pol Capt Tara Navanich, deputy investigation chief of Sangkhla Buri police station, said the accident occurred at about 4am on Highway 323 (Sangkhla Buri district-Three Pagoda Pass) at Moo 3 village in tambon Nong Lu.
When police arrived at the scene, they found the car lying upside down in the ditch by the side of the highway. The passengers' seats, both by the driver's side and in the back, had been removed. Only the driver's seat was left in the vehicle.
Four people were found dead in the car - two men, a boy aged about 13-14, and a woman. Their identities were not yet known.
Nine other passengers, who were also illegal Myanmar migrants, were injured. They were admitted to Sangkhla Buri Hospital for treatment.
Teerasak Srinual, a witness who was sleeping in his car at a petrol station about 20 metres from where the accident took place, told police he ran to take a look after hearing a loud noise. He saw eight to nine people trying to get out of the overturned vehicle and two men run away into the darkness.
Police concluded the two men who ran away might have picked up 13 illegal Myanmar migrants from Ban Songkalia village, and the migrants were being transported to destinations further inside the country.
The accident occurred as the overloaded car was negotiating a bend at high speed and overturned, causing the deaths and injuries.
Pol Col Tanakorn Roadruang, the Sangkhla Buri police chief, had instructed police to gather information from the nine injured imigrants who were being treated at Sangkhla Buri Hospital and to track down the two men who escaped.