Regional News
Passenger Train Slams into Pick-up Killing Family of Four in Phetchaburi, Thailand
Four people were killed when the pickup truck they were travelling in was rammed by a Bangkok-Hua Hin passenger train.
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PHETCHABURI – Four people in a pickup truck have been killed after their pickup was hit by a Hua Hin-bound tourist train in Phetchaburi on Friday.
Sayumpu Sutthikul, a duty officer at Cha-am police station said the truck was traversing an illegal crossing in Cha-am district when the special train from Bangkok to Suan Son Padiphat with 140 tourists aboard struck the vehicle and pushed it 700 metres down the track.
The truck was destroyed after it was hit by a tourist train (Photo by Chaiwat Satyaeam)
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Police and the State Railway of Thailand said four people on the truck died in the clash, all from Nan. All train passengers were unhurt.
State Railway of Thailand Governor Wutthichart Kalayanamitr said the crossing was illegally built.
The governor said the train agency had told the Cha-am municipality office to shut the crossing as a legal alternative with automatic barrier was only 150 metres away. But local residents still opposed the closure.
Pol Capt Sayumpu said the truck driver could have been unfamiliar with the area and did not see the oncoming train. Evidence inside the truck indicated that they were soliciting donations for a foundation to help children and the poor in Nan.
The train was damaged and the passengers were transfered to buses to continue their trip, he added.
Trains to Suan Son Padiphat operate on weekends and holidays for tourists to visiting the army beach resort in Hua Hin district in Prachuap Khiri Khan.
By Chaiwat Satyaeam – Bangkok Post
