PHETCHABUN: A monk was killed and 13 others injured when a tour bus carrying almost 50 monks and novices rammed into concrete barriers on a hilly road in Wichian Buri district on Saturday.
The incident happened on the Nam Om hill on Highway 225 along the Nakhon Sawan-Chaiyaphum route in tambon Yang Sao around 7am, said police.
On arriving at the scene, police and rescue workers found a tour bus with Ubon Ratchathani licence plates overturned on the road. The driver had fled.
One monk was found dead and 13 other monks injured, one seriously. The dead monk was identified as Phra Maha Charoen Chakkawano, 36, deputy district chief monk of Kham Khuen Kaeo in Yasothon province. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
The monks who escaped unhurt told police that the bus, carrying 48 monks and novices, the driver and two villagers from Yasothon, was on the way to Wat Pha Sorn Kaew hilltop temple in Khao Kho district of Phetchabun.
They said the driver tried to overtake a truck loaded with sugarcane on the hilly road, but the bus developed a brake problem. The driver lost control of the bus and it struck the roadside barriers before overturning.