Drunk Mercedes Driver Kills 3 People in High Speed Crash

Three people were killed in a collision on the expressway in Bangkok early Saturday after a Mercedes car rear-ended their vehicle at high speed. The Mercedes driver has been charged with drunk driving causing death.

Police Lt Col Prasit Wirattayaporn, the vice superintendent of the expressway traffic control centre in Hua Mak, said the accident occurred at 1 am on an outbound lane of the second-stage expressway above the Saen Saeb canal.

As police and rescue workers rushed to the scene, they discovered a badly damaged Honda sedan parked in the left lane of the highway.

Two women and a man were found dead inside. A 30-year-old woman Ms Atchara Khemthong was driving. Thai media reported that the man sitting next to her was 44-year-old Mr Somsak Chamchuri and that the man on the back seat was 30-year-old Mr Chawaporn Nuansuwan.

The Mercedes with the Bangkok plates was about 10 metres away, with the front badly damaged. A 33-year-old driver, Jinthawat Pongpanlee, stood nearby as he waited for police.

According to Thai media, he has worked as a sales coach and executive at a cosmetics company.

A witness told police that the Mercedes had rammed into the Honda at high speed as it headed for the motorway.

Mr Jinthawat was taken to police headquarters for questioning and a blood alcohol test. A forensic institute at Police General Hospital was entrusted with the bodies of the victims.