Driver and some illegal migrants fled after their SUV overturned
KANCHANABURI: Two illegal migrants from Myanmar were killed and eight others hurt when a speeding SUV carrying them overturned after its tyres burst on a road in Muang district early Thursday. The driver and about 10 other migrants fled.
The incident happened on Highway 323 along Sai Yok – Kanchanaburi route in tambon Wang Dong, said Pol Capt Krit Sitthisorn, deputy investigation chief at Lat Ya police station, who was reported around 4am.
Police and rescue workers rushing to the scene found a damaged Mitsubishi Strada G-Wagon with Nakhon Sawan licence plates on the roadside.
One front wheel and one rear wheel of the vehicle were detached, and its glass windows were shattered. One woman died and her body was trapped in the wreckage.
Nine people – three males and six females – sustained head injuries and remained on the roadside. They were rushed to a nearby hospital. One of them, a boy, was later pronounced dead.
All were illegal migrants from Myanmar, police said.
One of witnesses told police that he heard a loud noise like an explosion and saw the vehicle overturned several times before it landed on the side of the road. The driver and about 10 passengers left the vehicle and fled into the forested area along the road.
According to a police investigation, the SUV was driving at high speed. The vehicle overturned after it hit a large rock on the middle of the road, causing some of its tyres to burst.
Police were investigating to establish the exact cause of the accident and tracking down the fleeing driver and passengers.
Police and rescue workers inspect a damaged SUV carrying illegal migrants in Kanchanaburi’s Muang district after it overturned several times on Thursday. (Photo: Pitakkarn rescue foundation)