
One Chinese tourist and the driver were killed when their van slammed into the rear of an 18-wheeler in Takua Thung district in Phangnga province on Tuesday morning.
FM91 traffic police and Jor Sor 100 radio stations reported the van hit a lorry waiting to make a U-turn on Phetkasem road about 8.42am.
Pol Col Yutthapol Yaha, duty officer at Khok Kloi, told media the van was taking Chinese tourists from Phuket to Thap Lamu pier in Thai Muang district in Phangnga, where they were to catch a boat to the Similan islands.
A Chinese woman died at the scene and the van driver, whose name is not known, was later pronounced dead at Takua Thung hospital, he said. Eight other people were injured, seven of them tourists.
Truck driver Waranon Boonkerd told police he stopped at a U-turn point on the road and was waiting for a gap in the traffic when he heard the van crash into the rear of the vehicle.