A bus driver saved his 50 Myanmar passengers after the vehicle caught fire, then lost his own life trying to save the bus.
Samran Duangsa-ard took the workers from Phetchaburi province to the border district of Mae Sot in Tak province on Wednesday. They were returning to Myanmar.
As the double-decker bus, operated by Pongsawad Tour, was travelling a hilly section of road, the engine caught fire. The driver quickly pulled over and ushered the passengers from the vehicle, they told Mae Sot police.
The 60-year-old driver and some passengers then used a fire extinguisher and buckets of water to fight the blaze in the engine compartment.
When the fire was almost under control the bus started to roll forward, down the hill. The driver leapt back into the bus and into the driving seat, trying to stop it.
Instead, it kept rolling downhill and finally crashed into the rear of a slow-moving 18-wheeler trailer truck.
Pol Lt Col Jeerasak Sritham, the deputy chief of Mae Sot police station, said the driver was killed in the collision. His body was taken to Mae Sot hospital.
Police suspected the fire had damaged the brake system, causing the bus to start rolling down the hill with the driver unable to stop it.
Truck driver Theerasin Racha told police he had seen the bus stopped with its engine on fire. He did not get out to help as he saw that people were already putting out the fire.
He then noticed the bus moving quickly downhill towards his truck and finally crashing into the back of the trailer.
