Eighteen people were killed and more than 30 injured, several of them seriously, when their double-decker air-conditioned bus skidded off the road and plunged into a roadside ditch in Nadee district of Prachin Buri early this morning.
Prachin Buri police say that the ill-fated bus was among a convoy of three double-deckers carrying 129 officials of the Porn Charoen municipality in Bueng Kan province to Rayong for a two-day inspection trip.
The three buses left Bueng Kan at about 5pm yesterday but, as they were on a downhill section of Highway 304 in Nadee district of Prachin Buri, the third bus lost control and skidded off the road at Khao Thone.
Police suspect that the braking system of the bus might have failed, leaving the driver unable to control the vehicle on the incline.
Police and EMTs found the bus on its side and heavily damaged. Seventeen people were found dead under the wreckage and one was announced dead at a hospital while about 30 others were rescued.
All the deceased were taken to Nadee district hospital, while the injured were rushed to a hospital in Kabin Buri district for treatment.
