A 12‑year‑old driver involved in a pickup‑truck crash on Thursday left eight people dead during a monastic pilgrimage in northeastern Thailand, police confirmed.
What we know about the incident
Mukdahan province’s governor, Waorrayan Boonarat, reported that five fatalities occurred at the scene, and another three died later from injuries sustained during the collision. Fourteen individuals were wounded.
Local police said the boy has been detained while investigators look into the causes. Monks who attended the pilgrimage stated they observed the vehicle losing balance before sliding off the road and striking the group.
Location of the incident
The accident happened as a group of 35 monks and five lay followers walked along a roadside during a pilgrimage about 600 kilometres (≈ 375 miles) northeast of Bangkok, in Mukdahan province of the Isan region.
Mukdahan, with a population of roughly 350,000, is one of Thailand’s smallest and least densely populated provinces. Situated in the Mekong Delta and bordering Laos, it is regarded as Thailand’s poorest region.
Road safety in Thailand
Thailand’s road safety record has improved markedly in recent years, yet the country remains among the world’s most dangerous for road traffic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Thailand ranks ninth of 175 nations in road‑traffic deaths.
In 2021, the WHO reported over 18,200 fatalities, roughly 50 per day, resulting from road incidents.
While highways and major roads are generally well maintained, rural and minor routes can fall short of safety standards. The network also accommodates a wide range of vehicles, many of which are older, heavily overloaded, or used in ways beyond their design capacity.
Thai government data for 2024 show a death rate of almost 20 per 100,000 people in road‑traffic incidents, a significant improvement over recent years but still more than six times higher than Germany’s rate of just over three per 100,000.
In May, a collision at a rail crossing in Bangkok resulted in at least eight deaths.
Edited by: Karl Sexton
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