Thailand: Van carrying 12 people crashes, killing all but one passenger

A passenger van crashed in central Thailand over the Lunar New Year holiday, killing eleven people, including two children, police said Monday.

The van was travelling from northeastern Amnat Charoen province to Bangkok when it veered off the highway in central Nakhon Ratchasima province Saturday night, Police Colonel Yingyos Poldej said. A total of 12 people were in the van at the time of the accident.

While the lone survivor managed to climb out of the window, the other 11 got trapped and died in the blaze. Thanachit Kingkaew, a 20-year-old student, said he was jolted from his sleep after hearing someone scream.

"I woke up and the next thing I know, the van was upside down. I didn't see what happened," he said.

"After the crash, the fire started engulfing the whole van starting from the back."

"I started kicking the windows and managed to crawl through a small hole," he said.

"Soon after that, the van exploded."

A volunteer with a local rescue team said it took the van merely 30 seconds to explode after being engulfed by flames.

"It took less than 30 seconds for the fire to consume the whole van," he said.

"I couldn't do anything with the fire extinguisher I had. The van then exploded three to four times."

The incident is being investigated by the police, who are probing what exactly caused the van to veer of the road. Yingyos, the police colonel, said the van used both fuel and compressed gas, but according to initial reports, the gas tank had not leaked.

"We think that the fire was caused by the fuel," he said.

Thailand has a poor road safety record and traffic accidents are not uncommon.

(With inputs from agencies)

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