Train smashes car off the tracks in southern Thailand, killing 3

A car smashed through the barrier at a railroad crossing and was hit by a passenger train early this morning in Hua Hin in southern Thailand. Three people were killed in the collision. One person survived with injuries.

At 4am, officers at Hua Hin Police Station received a report of a train crashing into a car at the railroad crossing on Soi Hua Hin 94 between Nong Kae Railway Station and Hua Hin Railway Station in Hua Hin district in Thailand’s Prachuap Khiri Khan province.

Police, rescue workers from the Sawang Hua Hin Thammasathan Foundation Rescue Unit, and the Chief of Nong Kae Railway Station Songyot Chankasorn rushed to the scene.

The team found train No. 86 from Nakhon Si Thammarat – Bangkok parked on the tracks and a demolished Mazda sedan around 100 metres away. An injured man was trapped inside the car.

Police found the body of a police officer from Hua Hin Police Station, Pol. Snr. Sgt. Maj. Vara [surname withheld], inside the car. Police said Vara had a serious wound on his face.

The bodies of two women were found on the floor near the car. Their identities are unknown at this stage. All three bodies were taken to Hua Hin Hospital to undergo autopsies.

The train driver told police that he was driving from Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand and heading northward toward Bangkok. He said he saw the Mazda smash straight through the barrier at the crossing. He knew what was coming but there was nothing he could do to stop the train from hitting the car.

Volunteers pushed the damaged train to Hua Hin Station to undergo repairs. All the passengers were unharmed and transferred to another service.

Last month, a train split an 18-wheel trailer clean in half at a railroad crossing in Lamphun province in northern Thailand. The incident was captured by dashcam footage.

In September, a car crashed through a barrier and was hit by a train in Chon Buri province in eastern Thailand. One woman was killed and three more people were seriously injured.