A van fire involved in a traffic accident killed 11 people, including two children, in Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima province (centre), a police official said Monday.
The incident happened in a fast lane on Saturday night when the vehicle carrying 12 people traveling from Amnat Charoen (east) to Bangkok went off the road and crashed into the median.
A young man escaped before the fire broke out, but not the others trapped in the passenger compartment “who died in the fire,” police colonel Yingyos Poldej told AFP.
Thanachit Kingkaew, the sole survivor, was asleep when he was awakened by a scream at the time of the accident, he told state broadcaster Thai PBS.
“I smashed the window with my foot and managed to escape through a narrow hole,” said the 20-year-old student.
“Shortly thereafter, the van exploded,” he said.
The fire engulfed the vehicle in less than 30 seconds, a rescue worker at the scene told Thai PBS.
According to the first elements collected by the police, the fire was due to gasoline, while the van also contained a tank for natural gas that would not have leaked.
An investigation is underway to understand why the van ended up on the median, Yingyos said.
This incident, which occurs during the Lunar New Year celebrations, is a reminder of the dangers of road traffic in Thailand, which is known for its many accidents.
According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) data from 2019, the Kingdom has a death rate from road accidents that is twice the Southeast Asia average.