UBON RATCHATHANI — A car carrying illegally felled phayung logs and some speed pills collided head-on with a pickup truck, killing the two drivers and injuring seven others in Ubon Ratchathani on Saturday morning.
The crash occurred between kilometre makers 14 and 15 in tambon Srikhai in Warin Chamrap district of the northeastern province at about 8am. The car, loaded with 43 phayung logs, lost control on a curve, swerved into the opposite lane and crashed head-on with the pickup, said Pol Lt Saksayam Piewthaisong, a duty officer at the Warin Chamrap police station.
The impact of the crash killed the two drivers instantly. The bodies of car driver Kittiphan Khanthakhor, 24, and pickup driver Somdet Simma, 44, were trapped in the wreckage of their vehicles.
Seven people, including a Lao woman in the car and six others in the pickup, were injured. The Lao woman, identified later as Thongsai Suima, 29, was seriously hurt.
Police seized a total of 43 phayung logs, about 50 centimetres long each, and 15 methamphetamine tablets found in a bag inside the car. The injured Lao woman, now being treated in hospital, would be questioned about the seized wood and narcotics, police said.
Smuggling of phayung (Siamese rosewood) logs is a growing problem for conservation authorities. Prices have surged in recent years and can reach as much as 1.5 million baht a cubic metre for a prime specimen, according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency. Most of the demand comes from China.