News
Buddhist Monk, Nun Killed After Pickup Crashes in Southern Thailand
A senior Buddhist monk and a nun have been killed, and a woman injured after the pickup they were travelling in collided with the rear of a lorry parked by the roadside in southern Thailand on Sunday.
The collision happened around midnight in the tambon Khao Daeng in Songkhla.
The lorry driver told police he parked on the side of the road in front of a commercial building in heavy rain, awaiting cargo unloading, with his hazard lights flashing.
A Toyota Mighty X pickup struck the rear of the lorry about 20 minutes later. Due to the violent impact, the pickup was severely damaged and blocked the road.
Rescuers used hydraulic jacks to open the front of the pickup and discovered a monk in the driver’s seat.
Both the driver’s seat and the front passenger seat were empty. Another female passenger in the back seat was hurt.
The senior Buddhist monk (abbot) of Khlong Phaya Nai temple in tambon Ban Phru, Hat Yai district, was later identified as Phra Maha Paisal Pasanjitto, and the nun as Sudarat Limsakul, 55.
The injured woman who was injured has yet to be identified.
Songkhla Police were investigating the accident’s cause, which they suspected was poor visibility.
Army Officer Killed in Southern Thailand
An army officer was killed, and another seriously injured when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in the Chanae district of Thailand’s southern border province of Narathiwat on Sunday.
According to military sources, the two officers were on their way to investigate an earlier incident in which insurgents attacked villagers searching for forest produce in Chanae sub-district.
When the officers’ car arrived, the assailants hid in bushes near a rural road and detonated an explosive device. The powerful explosion blew up the vehicle and sent it careening into roadside bushes.
Captain Shindanai Raethong was killed by the blast’s force, while his subordinate, Abhisit Mudsakul, was seriously injured. Soon after the blast, reinforcements arrived and took them to the nearest hospital.