CHACHOENGSAO: Eight people were killed and three others injured when a pick-up truck was hit by a freight train at a railway crossing in Muang district of this eastern province early on Friday morning.
The incident occurred around 3am at Moo 6 in tambon Khlong Udom Chonlajorn, Pol Capt Teerawat Pornprasit, a duty officer at Muang police station, said.
Police, along with medical personnel from Buddhasothorn Hospital and a team of rescuers, rushed to the scene.
They found freight train No. 833, with its engine still running, on the rail track. The train, loaded with containers, was en route from Lat Krabang inland container depot to the Laem Chabang Port.
A heavily damaged Isuzu pick-up truck was found nearby, with the bodies of five men and three women scattered over the area.
Three people were injured, one of them seriously. They were rushed to Buddhasothorn Hospital.
During questioning, the pick-up driver, Wichai Yulek, 55, told the police that he was taking a group of workers from Wat Buaroy in Bangkok's Lat Krabang district to a fish farm in Khlong Udom Cholachorn.
According to Mr Wichai, as he approached the railway crossing, he noticed a warning light signalling the incoming train. However, a passenger told him to go ahead. So he attempted to drive across the rail track but failed.
The train collided with the left side of the pick-up, propelling it violently off the road. The workers seated at the back of the vehicle were ejected upon impact, resulting in eight deaths and three injuries.
A survivor, Surapat Prasop, 20, who was among the workers travelling in the pick-up, said he decided to jump off the vehicle upon seeing the approaching train. Seconds later, the pick-up was hit struck by the train.
Wichian Saengthapson, 58, the owner of the fish farm, said he had hired the workers to catch fish at the farm and expected their arrival by 2am. At 3am, he received news of the accident. At the farm, he had heard the train whistle multiple times but did not interpret it as a warning sound.
The bodies of the eight workers were taken by the rescuers to the hospital for an autopsy before being handed over to their relatives for religious rites.
This incident adds to the list of major train accidents at railway crossings in Thailand. On Oct 11, 2020, another incident occurred when a bus carrying 57 passengers from Samut Prakan province to a tod krathin ceremony (the annual presentation of new robes to Buddhist monks) in Chachoengsao was hit by a freight train at a railway crossing in tambon Bang Toey, Muang district.
Twenty passengers were killed and 30 others injured.