Thailand: 11 teachers killed in van accident

By CS Thana

BANGKOK (AA) – A road accident in which a chartered van overturned and caught fire in Thailand has killed 11 teachers, according to local media Saturday.

Local Channel 7 news reported that the 11 teachers hailed from the Kloom Klao charter school and were traveling back to Bangkok from Chonburi Province to the southeast.

Chonburi police were quoted saying that the van may have been speeding when the accident occurred Friday night.

Relatives and school administrators picked up the bodies of the teachers Saturday with administrators promising to continue classes at the school.

Thailand is frequently ranked among the countries with the most dangerous roads, with even its Public Health Ministry acknowledging that a general lack of responsibility contributes to the problem.

A 2015 World Health Organization report, titled the Global Status Report on Road Safety, found that Thailand came in second after war-torn Libya for road fatalities.

It said that while 14,059 people were recorded to have died on Thai roads in 2012, resulting in 36.2 deaths per 100,000 people, the UN agency estimated that the actual figure might stand at 24,237, or 42 percent more than the Public Health Ministry reported.