31 Thai university students injured in Nakhon Pathom bus accident

A coach bus driver crashed into a 12-wheel truck carrying pigs on Phet Kasem Road in the central province of Nakhon Pathom yesterday, October 14, leaving 31 university students injured.

Officers from Mueang Nakhon Pathom Police Station investigated the accident at about 6.45pm, along with rescuers from the Suksalanukroh Nakhon Pathom Foundation. The windscreen of the bus was shattered and its front door was jammed while the 12-wheel truck sustained minimal damage.

Rescuers rushed 31 victims to hospital with minor injuries. Other students who escaped the crash unscathed carefully removed their belongings from the damaged bus to a replacement vehicle.

The bus driver, 70 year old Chaiyasit Pattamaethin, waited for officers at the scene. He told police that he was transporting around 40 university students from Srinakharinwirot University in Bangkok. They attended a nature conservation camp in the central province of Ratchaburi, and the accident occurred on their return journey.

Chaiyasit claimed that the 12-wheel truck made a sudden stop without signalling, and he was unable to stop the bus in time, resulting in the crash. The truck driver, 38 year old Sinchai Sudthup, corroborated Chaiyasit’s account, saying he had to make an emergency stop due to heavy traffic ahead.

Officers will conduct further investigations into the accident, and the charges against the coach bus driver have yet to be revealed.

In a recent tragic incident involving a coach bus reported on October 1, 23 teachers and students, aged between three and 14, lost their lives in a bus blaze. A fire broke out on the coach bus while 44 students and teachers were on a school trip.

Three of the victims from that accident remain under close care in hospital. As of the latest update on their condition today, October 15, one of them is showing signs of both physical and mental improvement, while the other two remain in an unstable condition.

However, the other two victims have responded to treatment and medication, and their burn wounds show no signs of infection.