West Thailand: Teenage Myanmar girl dies in pickup crash near factory

A road accident took place in the early hours of today, January 6, near the Tipco Pineapple Factory on Phetkasem road, in the Mueang district of Prachuap Khiri Khan province.

A Burmese teenager lost her life when the pickup she was travelling in lost control and crashed into a tree.

The Prachuap Khiri Khan City Police Station received a distress call around 5am about a vehicular accident involving a pickup truck and a tree. The accident resulted in multiple casualties, the most severe of which was the death of a 17 year old Myanmar girl, who is yet to be identified due to lack of documentation.

The Deputy Provincial Police Officer, Ratnaporn Thongchin, along with a team from the highway police, Prachuap Khiri Khan City Police Station, and Swang Prachuap Rescue Foundation, promptly arrived at the scene. They discovered a white Isuzu pickup truck with Phuket registration number BP 9143 in the middle of the road. The right side of the truck was severely damaged, and a tree about 100 metres away showed signs of collision.

The team identified four minor injuries and one seriously injured individual, whom they tried to resuscitate unsuccessfully. The deceased, along with the injured, were immediately transported to the Prachuap Khiri Khan Hospital for further treatment and a post-mortem examination.

The driver of the vehicle, Singh, a Mon native working as a rubber tapper in Surat Thani, was transporting four Myanmar nationals from Surat Thani to Bangkok. According to Singh, the deceased and her girlfriend, who was also in the vehicle, had run away from their parents due to their forbidden relationship. They had hired Singh to take them to Bangkok, from where they planned to continue to Kanchanaburi, reported KhaoSod.

Tree crash

Singh confirmed that he was not asleep at the wheel during the accident. He stated that they had taken a break at the PTT petrol station in Ban Bueng before continuing their journey. As they approached the Tipco factory, the pickup lost control and crashed into a tree, causing the vehicle to shake and eject the passengers from the back of the truck, resulting in one fatality.

The police confirmed that all the Myanmar nationals had valid passports and were legally residing in Thailand. The investigation is ongoing to determine the exact cause of the accident. The driver has been taken into custody for further questioning.