17 killed, seven injured in Buri Ram crash
Surachai Piraksa,
Prasit Tangprasert
The Nation October 8, 2013 1:00 am
A pickup carrying Laotian migrant workers skidded off a road and crashed into a tree in Buri Ram yesterday morning, killing 17 people on board, including the driver and two heavily pregnant women. Seven others were also injured, six of them seriously.
Passenger Phu Liamwonglad, 30, was the only person in a fit enough condition to testify.
"There were 24 people on board including the driver," he said, adding that he and his wife paid more than Bt2,000 to hitch a ride in the pickup from Samut Prakan to the border province of Ubon Ratchathani. They were heading home to Laos.
The driver, identified as Chawalit Thavornkham, 34, is believed to have taken an alternative route to reach the border checkpoint in order to avoid police detection.
"The main road is more convenient, but there are police checkpoints," a source said.
Buri Ram's deputy police chief Colonel Prayut Phokaeokul said a methamphetamine tablet was found on Chawalit's body, as well as a bottle of alcohol next to his seat.
