When a pick-up truck was hit by a freight train at a railway crossing in Muang district of this eastern province early Friday morning, eight persons were killed and three others were injured.
Pol Capt Teerawat Pornprasit, a duty officer at Muang police station, said the incident happened at 3 a.m. at Moo 6 in tambon Khlong Udom Chonlajorn.
Police, as well as medical workers from Buddhasothorn Hospital and a rescue squad, hurried to the situation.
They discovered freight train No. 833 on the rail track, with its engine still functioning. The train was carrying containers from the Lat Krabang inland container depot to the Laem Chabang Port.
A highly damaged Isuzu pick-up truck was discovered nearby, along with the dead of five men and three women.
Three persons were injured, one critically. They were taken to Buddhasothorn Hospital in an ambulance.
Wichai Yulek, 55, the pick-up driver, told police that he was transporting a group of laborers from Wat Buaroy in Bangkok’s Lat Krabang district to a fish farm in Khlong Udom Cholachorn.
As he reached the railway crossing, Mr Wichai observed a warning light signaling an impending train. However, a passenger advised him to proceed. So he attempted, but failed, to drive across the rail track.
The train hit with the pick-up’s left side, launching it forcefully off the road. When the vehicle collided, the workers in the rear were ejected, resulting in eight deaths and three injuries.
Surapat Prasop, 20, a survivor who was among the workers in the pick-up, claimed he opted to get off the vehicle when he saw the approaching train. The pick-up was hit by the train seconds later.
The owner of the fish farm, Wichian Saengthapson, 58, said he recruited the workers to catch fish at the farm and expected them to arrive by 2 a.m. He learned about the collision at 3 a.m. He had heard the train whistle several times at the property but had not interpreted it as a warning sound.
The rescuers took the bodies of the eight workers to the hospital for an autopsy before handing them over to their family for religious ceremonies.
This incident adds to Thailand’s long series of major train accidents at railway crossings. On October 11, 2020, a bus carrying 57 passengers from Samut Prakan province to Chachoengsao for a tod krathin ceremony (the annual presentation of new robes to Buddhist monks) was hit by a freight train at a railway crossing in tambon Bang Toey, Muang district.
Twenty passengers were killed, while another 30 were injured.
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Rescuers and police at the railway crossing in Chachoengsao province where a pick-up truck was hit by a freight train on Friday morning. (Screengrab)
