A woman is dead after a monk rear-ended the pickup truck in which she was riding in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima. Police say the incident occurred about 1:15 pm yesterday on a road along an irrigation canal in tambon Krachon.

A spokesman said 24 year old Likit Chuamo was driving the pickup, taking nine people to a nearby village to visit relatives whose house was earlier damaged by a fire. His vehicle was struck from behind by a Nissan Sunny, driven by a 51 yea old monk identified as Phra Mun Suparo from Wat Non Krabuang in the same tambon.

The pickup was forced off the road and into the dried up canal. A woman passenger, 46 year old Thongmaen Chuamo, was thrown from the back of the truck and crushed. She was rushed to Phimai Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Other passengers in the pickup were injured.

The monk said he was on the way to pick up another monk at Wat Non Tala, also in tambon Krachon. He was detained for questioning and faces legal action.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

One man is dead and another 5 passengers injured after a big bike the man was driving slammed into a van making a U-turn along Old Sukhumvit road in the main business district. The incident occurred at about 8pm in tambon Bang Pu Mai, on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand, south of Bangkok.

32 year old Paveena Ratpipop, a relative of the one of the injured people in the passenger van, told police that the incident occurred after the groups rented a van to visit the Khao Khitchakut temple in Chanthaburi province, near the Cambodian border.

Shortly after the start of their journey, the van allegedly made a sudden U-turn on the Old Sukhumvit road heading towards Khlong Dan. The driver of a big bike was heading in the opposite direction and collided into the centre of the van, at speed, as the vehicle turned across the road.

26 year old Anan Phosila, the driver of the motorbike, was killed instantly and the bike a crumpled wreck in the middle of the road. 3 men and 2 women, travelling as passengers in the van, were injured in the crash. The injured were rushed to Ratrin Hospital in the Bang Pu area. Police are interviewing the driver of the van and witnesses, and investigating the circumstances of the crash.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

Two people have been killed and 18 more inured in a bus crash today in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat. Police say the bus overturned after sliding backward while ascending a steep hill in Khanom district, killing two passengers and injuring 18. The incident occurred at about 11:30am while the bus was transporting tourists back to Songkhla province after a trip to Surat Thani.

The bus driver, 47 year old Phankhom Tulathon, told police that while passing through Khanom district, the northernmost district of Nakhon Si Thammarat, passengers asked him to drive up a hill called Noen Thewada, a famous tourist spot, for sightseeing.

Phankhom says that while climbing the slope, he found the bus was not powerful enough. Although he shifted to a lower gear, the bus began sliding backward, and quickly gathered speed. The bus veered off the road, hit a tree, overturned, and ended up on its side.

Two women were crushed to death. They were identified as 46 year old Sansanee Phurangsee and Ajjana Nopkhunkachorn, aged 63, both from Songkhla’s Hat Yai district.

Eighteen other passengers were injured, three of them seriously, and were rushed to nearby hospitals.

Police are questioning the bus driver to determine the exact cause of the incident.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post