Responding to emergency calls, police officers arrived in the province’s Thacharng District to find a badly damaged Mitsubishi Triton truck and the body of its driver a few meters away. Police investigators later said the train had hit the pickup square on and the force of the impact had catapulted the 32-year-old driver from his seat.
Once the wreckage of the pickup was cleared from the tracks, Train 35 was given the green light to continue its southbound journey to Hat Yai, Padang Besar on the Thai-Malay border, and the Malaysian coastal town of Butterworth. Police officers noted that none of the passengers on board the train had been injured or even shaken up by the force of the collision.
Apart from the occasional late arrival, incidents affecting the International Express are rare. There is one daily train in each direction between Bangkok and Butterworth. The latter is the gateway to Penang Island. 12GO ASIA sells tickets for Bangkok-Butterworth trains as well as for other key routes in Thailand.
Passengers unharmed in southern Thai express train collision
News in Asia
Passengers aboard a Thai express train were uninjured in a horrific accident at a level crossing yesterday. The Bangkok to Butterworth service was approaching a level crossing in Suratthani Province at 01:30 yesterday morning when a pickup drove onto the tracks.