15 dead in Thai school bus crash

BANGKOK–At least 15 people, including 13 children, were killed when a bus carrying students on a trip to the seaside collided with a lorry in eastern Thailand Friday, police said.

More than 30 others were injured in the pre-dawn accident in Prachinburi involving the double-decker bus and an 18-wheel truck, the authorities said.

The students, aged around 10 to 14 years old, were heading to the resort city of Pattaya from the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima.

“Thirteen students and two teachers died — 11 of them at the scene — and more than 30 injured are in three nearby hospitals,” Police Lieutenant Colonel Anukarn Thamvijarn said by telephone.

“The bus’s brakes may have failed or the driver might have fallen asleep,” he said.

Safety standards are generally poor in Thailand and deadly road accidents are common.

A recent report by the World Health Organization said the country saw some 38.1 road deaths per 100,000 people, compared with an average of 18.5 in Southeast Asia as a whole.