Ten people were hurt, seven seriously, when a tour van plunged about 30 metres into a ravine in Long district of Phrae province early Saturday morning.
The van was travelling from Phichit to Chiang Mai when it skidded off the downhill road and plunged into the ravine between kilometre markers 389 and 390 on Highway 11 in tambon Mae Pan of Long district in Phrae, said Pol Capt Santi Khunchum, an investigation officer at the Long police station, who was alerted at around 5am.
When police and rescue workers arrived at the scene they saw a concrete barrier at the curve had been damaged. Rescuers used a rope to climb about 30 metres down into the ravine, where they found a Toyota van with Bangkok licence plates in a dense thicket of trees with its right section damaged.
Ten people were found injured inside the van. It took rescue teams more than one hour to move them from the ravine up to the road. Seven were seriously hurt and the three others, including the driver, sustained minor injuries.
Driver Narongdet Sribun, 43, who had minor bruises, told police that it was not raining when the accident occurred, but the road was slippery. He lost control of the vehicle at the curve, causing the van to plunge into the area below.
Janya Ketmek, 72, one of the injured passengers, said his family had rented the van in Saphan Hin district in Phichit for a trip in Chiang Mai. They left the district at around 11pm. As they drove through Phrae there was no rain but the road was slippery, he added.
