Chon Buri crash kills 25 after minibus ploughs into pickup

TWENTY-FIVE people were killed in Chon Buri yesterday after an inter-provincial minibus crashed head-on with a pickup truck and erupted in flames, according to local police and authorities.
The accident killed 14 people in the van and another 11 people in the pickup truck, including at least two children, said Pinet Lertkhemthat, the district chief of Ban Bueng in Chon Buri, where the crash occurred.
He said it was likely that the van was fuelled by gas, as the blaze started immediately after the crash.
The bodies of all victims were taken to the local Ban Bueng Hospital for identification, according to the district chief. He said their family members would be notified.
The van, carrying passengers from Chanthaburi to Bangkok, was heading for Rayong when the accident occurred, Police Lt-Colonel Viroj Jamcharas, investigation inspector at Ban Bueng Police Station, said.
He said it appeared that the van driver had fallen asleep behind the wheel, as the vehicle ploughed into the dividing gutter towards oncoming traffic in the opposite lanes. It then crashed head-on with the pickup truck, which had a Bangkok licence plate, leaving all its occupants dead due to the impact.
Passers-by were unable to help as both vehicles were engulfed in the resulting blaze.
Pichai Nimyang, who witnessed the accident, said he heard a loud bang after the crash that started the fire. “The passengers cried for help but onlookers could not get close to the burning vehicles. We saw them die in the fire,” he said.
Three fire engines rushed to the scene to put out the blaze but were too late to help those caught inside.
An official working for the local transport office said they had found that the van’s gas cylinder was not damaged by the impact of the crash, so it was unlikely to have directly started the fire. However, further examination by experts was needed to determine the cause of the accident and the blaze, he said.
Meanwhile, road casualties continued to rise over the first four of the “seven dangerous days” accident watch period, as millions of people travel on their way back from the long New Year break.
A total of 280 people were killed and 2,877 injured in 2,712 road accidents between last Thursday and Sunday, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said yesterday.
On Sunday alone, there were 751 road accidents, leaving 81 people dead and 778 others injured.
Chiang Mai, a popular tourist destination in the North, had the highest number of cumulative road accidents, 117, and most injured people, 125. 
Sakon Nakhon and Udon Thani both had the highest number of cumulative fatalities, with 14 each.
In a related development, tourists attending a full moon party in Koh Phangan on New Year’s Eve said they were left with burns when a pyrotechnic display showered revellers with red-hot embers, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.
Footage of the incident on the popular backpacker island of Koh Phangan was posted online, showing how cheers turned to screams of panic as a giant sign reading “Happy New Year 2017” was set alight at midnight.
Sparks could be seen raining down on the crowd, aided by an onshore breeze. Eyewitnesses described mass panic as people scrambled to get out of the way of the display.
Backpackers flock to Koh Phangan for its famously raucous full moon parties. But its laid-back charm belies an equally relaxed attitude to safety.
Police confirmed the incident but played down tourist reports of injuries and mass panic. 
“One female tourist aged around 30 was slightly injured, she got treated and went away,” Colonel Somchai Noppasri, the island’s police chief, said.