CHUMPHON: A bus staffer was killed and 19 people — 18 school students and the driver — injured when a tour bus carrying students from Hat Yai to attend a maths camp in Bangkok hit a tree and overturned.
The crash happened at around noon, police said.
Police and rescue workers rushing to the scene found a male teenager dead and 19 others, mostly school boys and girls, hurt and trapped in the wreckage. All were retrieved and sent to a nearby hospital, Thai media reported.
The dead teenager was later identified as Prompiriya Semneng, 17, a bus staffer. The injured were 18 students and the bus driver, said police.
The 18 students — 12 girls and six boys — were from Hat Yai Witthaya 2 School in Songkhla.
The buses left Hat Yai at about 5am on Tuesday. The bus that got involved in the accident was the first one, said police.
Driver Warodom Chudrung, 27, who was among the injured, told police that he felt sleepy while driving and tried to drive to a rest area. However, he did not know when he fell asleep at the wheel and woke up when the bus hit a tree and overturned.
Police held the driver in custody on charges of reckless driving causing death and injuries.
