8 people died, many injured when train collided with bus in Thailand

Twelve people were reported killed, and dozens more injured after a goods train collided with a bus in the Thai capital, Bangkok, on Saturday.

Firefighters and rescue workers surrounded the crash site, and investigators were seen peering into the body of the burned bus.

Pedestrians were led out of busy downtown intersections, which are used by tens of thousands of vehicles every day.

“Eight people died and 35 others were injured,” Bangkok police chief Urumporn Koondejsumrit told reporters, updating the number of injured from an earlier report.

The crash occurred in the afternoon, with images on social media showing the train approaching a railway crossing at moderate speed before colliding with the bus, which burst into flames.

“The fire has now been extinguished and we are trying to evacuate the bodies,” said Urumporn.

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The flames appeared to spread quickly.

“I didn’t dare look back to see if there were any victims,” an eyewitness who was near the intersection with her daughter told public broadcaster Thai PBS.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered an investigation into the incident, according to a statement from his office.

Deadly transport accidents are common in Thailand, a country that regularly tops lists of the world’s deadliest roads, with speeding, drunk driving and lax law enforcement among the contributing factors.

The fall of a crane onto a passenger train killed 32 people and injured dozens more in northeastern Thailand in January.

A collision between a freight train and a bus carrying passengers to a religious ceremony killed 18 people in 2020.

Three years later, eight people died in a collision between a freight train and a pickup truck crossing a railroad line in the eastern part of the country.