Van overturns in northeast Thailand, injuring 22 students

A school van overturned in Thailand’s northeast Nakhon Ratchasima province this morning, leaving 22 students injured. Police and rescuers arrived to find the van overturned along the side of the road, with many students crying in fear.

The 22 children injured suffered minor injuries, including bruises and head swelling, Thai Rath reported. The children were mostly kindergarten and primary students.

A teacher and the van driver helped the students out of the van. Rescuers and medics gave the children first aid before transporting them to Non Thai Hospital for doctors to thoroughly examine them.

The teacher rushed to call the students’ parents, who then scrambled to the scene, tearfully hugging their children. The parents of children who were not injured brought their children home immediately.

The van driver gave a preliminary statement saying that he lost control of the van at a curve, which caused the van to overturn.

Thai media reported that the driver had bent down to pick up a glass of water when he lost control of the van.

Police are investigating the incident.

Thailand has a horrendous problem with road accidents. The country was ranked the second most dangerous country to drive in according to a driver’s educational platform. There were 21,052 accidents in 2020, and 11,138 accidents in 2021. About 20% of accidents involved motorcycles, while 8% involved six-wheel trucks, and 8% involved trucks with at least 10 wheels.

Only South Africa is deemed to be a more dangerous place to drive than the Kingdom of Thailand with the US coming in third place.

The US-based Zutobi, a driver’s educational website that annually measures road accidents throughout the globe, revealed that Thailand scores badly in five different categories.

Zutobi ranked Thailand in second place with 4.35 points, behind South Africa with 3.41 points, and the US was third with 5.03 points.

Will Thailand ever figure out a way to truly bring down the number of road accidents?