SURAT THANI: Ten people were hurt when a van carrying students to join a Japanese language contest in Bangkok collided with a car in Phanom district of this southern province on Saturday morning.
The crash occurred at kilometre marker 12 on Highway 415 on the Phanom-Khao Sok route in tambon Khong Cha-oun, said police, who were alerted at around 8.15am.
A police investigation found that a Toyota Vios with Nakhon Nayok licence plates, bound for Phuket, had strayed into the lane of the Bangkok-bound van travelling in the opposite direction. The car collided head-on with the van.
The force of the crash caused nine people on board the van and the car driver to sustain injuries, with two people seriously hurt. The impact also threw passengers’ bags and belongings from the van.
Of the injured, teacher Nittaya Duangmanee, 50, suffered two broken legs and student Kotchakorn Boonroy, 17, had a broken hip and left ankle joint. Car driver Thawatpong Boonma, 25, was slightly hurt. All were sent to Phanom Hospital.
Van driver Bamrung Chansuwan, 59, told police that the van, carrying two female teachers and six female students from Satriwitthaya Phuket School, was on the way to Bangkok for a Japanese language contest. He said that when he saw the car entering his lane he applied the brakes to avert the crash, but it was too late.
The driver of this car sustained only minor injuries after it stuck a school van in Surat Thani on Saturday. (Photo by Supapong Chaolan)