Sleeping driver unharmed after seemingly deadly crash

Yesterday morning saw what looked to be a grizzly car crash in Nakhon Si Thammarat but, surprisingly, the driver walked away unharmed. A pickup truck brimming with durian fruit smashed into a power pole on the highway yesterday morning after the driver fell asleep at the wheel.

A man from Phang Nga had been driving down Highway 41 in Thung Song district of the Southern province when his drowsiness got the better of him as he drifted off into sleep causing him to lose control of the truck. The vehicle collided with a power pole that has been knocked over, which led to the truckful of giant fruit being flung across the highway as the car flipped over.

When the crashing car finally came to a stop, it was perpendicular to the ground resting on its nose, leaning against a lamppost on the side of the road. The dramatic photos look like an accident that would surely bring fatalities.

But when the police arrived at the scene of the crash, they were surprised to find the 24 year old driver of the truck waiting next to his upended vehicle, virtually untouched in the accident. After the collision, he was able to free himself of the wreckage, climbing out of the truck without assistance.

He was transported to a nearby hospital for a thorough examination to make sure there weren’t any unnoticed or internal injuries, but the man insisted that he felt fine.

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According to local police, the driver said he had been driving north from the Deep South province of Yala, transporting his cargo of durian to Chumphon. During the long trek, he had grown drowsy and eventually fell asleep at the wheel. He was awoken from his slumber by the crash itself and was able to walk away from the crash with nothing more than a few scratches.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post