9 students and 2 teachers injured in Surat Thani van accident

A van carrying 11 passengers, including nine students and two teachers, overturned in Kanchanadit district, Surat Thani province, following a camping trip.

The accident occurred yesterday afternoon, November 15, on Highway 44, along the Krabi-Surat Thani route in Thung Rang subdistrict. Police Captain Thaweewit Kaewroy of Khunthale Police Station detailed the incident, which was reported at 2.10pm.

Upon arrival, police and rescue teams discovered the van, with Bangkok licence plates, overturned in a ditch dividing the road. The passengers, consisting of teachers and students, were trapped inside the wreckage.

Rescue workers managed to extract the nine students, who sustained minor injuries, and transported them to Surat Thani Hospital for medical attention.

The rescue operation required cutting tools to free the two teachers from the front seats. Notably, one of the teachers was also the driver. Both were also taken to the hospital for further treatment.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the van was transporting Grade 7 students from Thidamaepra School in Krabi province to a camping site in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Other students from the group were traveling separately on a bus that followed the van.

Police investigations suggest that the driver lost control of the vehicle, leading it to skid off the road and into the ditch. The investigation is ongoing as police continue to gather more information about the incident, reported Bangkok Post.

More to follow…

In related news, a tragic accident involving a van carrying officials from the Department of Water Resources resulted in the deaths of four people after the vehicle crashed into a tree. The van was returning to Bangkok when the incident occurred. Police from Kosamphi Nakhon Police Station in Kamphaeng Phet province responded to an accident involving a white Toyota van that veered off the road and collided with a tree on October 27.

In other news, a school van carrying students home in Krabi was struck by a falling tree during a severe storm, injuring 14 people, with the driver sustaining the worst injuries. Fortunately, none of the students lost their lives.