Thailand: Bus crash kills 14 and splits vehicle in half

BBC News:

Fourteen people have died in Thailand after a double-decker bus veered off the road and smashed into a tree.

Photos online show the bus leaning on its side and its front split in half, with parts of the tree wedged in it.

Thirty-two others were injured following the crash in Prachuap Khiri Khan, a coastal province in the country’s south.

Thailand has one of the world’s highest road accident rates, leading to thousands of deaths every year.

Many attribute this to poor safety standards on the country’s busy roads.

In 2022 alone, 15,000 people lost their lives on Thailand’s roads, according to the country’s Road Accidents Data Centre. In the UK, which has a slightly lower population, that number stands at 1,700.

In 2021, traffic-related incidents made up almost a third of total deaths in the country, the World Health Organization said.