Regional News
Six Seriously Injured after Passenger Van Crashes into Tree in Southern Thailand
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PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN – Nine passenger of travelling in a van and the driver, have been injured – six of them seriously – when the van crashed into a tree on the road median in southern Thailand early on Sunday.
Police said the Bangkok-registered passenger van was transporting passengers to Sakon Nakhon province for merit-making.
The accident occurred at 6.30am.
Highway police and rescue workers from a local charity foundation were dispatched to the scene where they found 9 passengers and the driver, six were severely injured, including the driver.
According to the Bangkok Post police investigating initially suspected that the driver Wanchalerm Thongmai, 25, had fallen asleep at the wheel.
Meanwhile, in Central Thailand a monk survived unscathed after he swerved to avoid a cat, hit a concrete pipe and flew off the road on Saturday.
Rescue workers found the old Mitsubishi Lancer Champ car almost vertical and stuck nose-first into the ground a few meters from the side of the road. The car was a total wreck but the monk appeared fine as he waited nearby.
The monk, whose name was withheld, said he had been staying at a local temple and was driving back to his temple after doing some business. A cat suddenly ran across the road just in front of the car, so he turned the vehicle to save the animal.
Monks in Thailand are not allowed to drive or own motor vehicles.