Four people were killed and six others injured when a Bangkok-bound express train hit a pickup truck on a railway crossing in Kantang district of Trang province on Thursday.
The driver of Kantang-Bangkok train 168 told police in Kantang district that he sounded the train’s horn and applied the braking system when he saw a pickup truck was crossing the railway track, but it was already too late.
The train rammed into the bed of the truck, throwing the seven people in it from the vehicle in different directions. Four of them were pronounced dead at the scene, while the others, including the driver and two other passengers sitting in the cab, were injured.
A surviving passenger told the police that they had come from Songkhla province and were on their way to catch shrimp at a farm in Kantang district.
Sanan Petsanan, the headman of Bangmark sub-district, said that there have been several accidents at this particular railway crossing, mostly because drivers have been talking on a mobile phone or were listening to music and did not hear the train’s horn.
He also said that he has previously asked the State Railway of Thailand to install a barrier at the crossing, but they installed one at another crossing instead, claiming that this crossing is an unofficial one.
SRT Governor Veeris Ammarapala offered condolences to the families of those killed, as he claimed that the railway crossing in question is “illegal”, adding that the SRT has, nonetheless, installed warning signals and signs there.
He also pleaded with the local administration to upgrade the safety measures at railway crossings which are not approved by the SRT but which are frequently used by motorists.
