Thai Couple in Bangkok Burned Beyond Recognition After Roadside Crash

BANGKOK – A Car driver and passenger were burned to death after their vehicle crashed against a roadside tree in Bangkok’s Klong Sam Wa district early on Tuesday before catching fire, burning the driver and passenger beyond recognition.

Passers-by managed to pull out a back-seat passenger before the car was engulfed in flames but the man died later at the scene from injuries, police said.

Police said the accident happened on the inbound Nimit Mai road in Sam Wa Tawantok sub-district at 3am.

Jaran Munwaja, 32, said he happened to be driving past and saw a car had flipped onto its right side after hitting a tree.

He and six other passers-by managed to flip the car upright and pull out a man from the back seat, who was still alive. The passenger later died.

Pol Captain Phetcharat Saenrat, deputy inspector of the Nimit Mai police station, said a man drove the car and a woman was in the front passenger seat.

Phetcharat said a wallet was found on the man from the back seat, but inside it had the ID card of an 18-year-old woman, Preechaya Limprasert. Police were not yet sure on Tuesday morning whether the ID card belonged to the woman in the front passenger seat.

As a result, police have yet to identify the three victims, Phetcharat added.

A police check of the licence plate found that the car belonged to Nattha Chantharakhana, 43. Police will try to summon her or her relatives to testify.

The three bodies were sent for a disaster victim identification process at Police Hospital.