Fatal ride: Garbage truck tragedy as sanitation workers hit a dead-end on tunnel rooftop

Two sanitation workers tragically lost their lives when they were seated on the roof of a garbage truck while it passed through a tunnel in the central province of Kanchanaburi. The workers sustained fatal head injuries as the vehicle entered the tunnel, colliding with its ridge.

Officers from the Tha Rua Police Station received a report of the accident at a tunnel on the Bang Yai-Kanchanaburi Road in the Ta Khram En sub-district, Thamaka district, Kanchanaburi at about 3pm yesterday, January 23. They went to the scene with rescuers from the Nithikhun Rattanawut Foundation.

At the scene, officers discovered a green Isuzu FTR garbage truck parked near the tunnel. A 25 year old sanitation worker, Apinyo Benjachart was pronounced dead at the scene. He was lying on a pile of plastic bottles on top of the truck with a serious head wound.

Another sanitation worker, 27 year old Narongsak Janthong, suffered serious head injuries as well and was rushed to hospital. Unfortunately, he died in hospital while receiving treatment.

Police investigated the scene and discovered the cracks on the ridge of the tunnel along with bloodstains and hair. The tunnel is 4 metres high and 10 metres wide.

The CCTV cameras of residents living near the scene showed that the two sanitation workers were sitting on top of the truck and their heads hit the ridge as the truck entered the tunnel.

A 65 year old Thai man, Pian Poonsuwan, who owns a grocery store near the accident site, told ThaiRath that the sanitation workers usually collect rubbish in the community in the early hours of each day but on this day they came in the evening instead.

Pian said he heard the two men scream in pain as the truck entered the tunnel. He believed the two sanitation workers were worried that the light plastic bottles would be blown away as the truck moved, so they sat on them.

Authorities from the Ta Khram En Sub-district Office revealed that the two sanitation workers had just been transferred to work in the area. They were unfamiliar with the route and did not expect a tunnel.

The sub-district office emphasised that the two workers had life insurance and assured their families that the office would compensate and support them for the losses.