SONGKHLA: The abbot of a Buddhist temple and a nun were killed and another woman injured when a pickup they were travelling in crashed into the rear of a lorry parked by the roadside in Singha Nakhon district early on Sunday, police said.
The accident occurred at about half past midnight on the Ranot - Songkhla road in tambon Khao Daeng.
The driver of the lorry told police he parked the vehicle on the roadside in front of a commercial.building in heavy rain, waiting to unload the cargo, with the hazard lights flashing.
About 20 minutes later, the lorry was hit in the rear by a Toyota Mighty X pickup. The violent impact left the pickup blocking the road, with the front section badly damaged.
Rescuers used hydraulic jacks to break open the front of the pickup and found a monk in the driver
s seat and a nun in the front passenger seat, both dead. Another woman in the back seat was injured.
The monk was later identified as Phra Maha Paisal Pasanjitto, the abbot of Khlong Phaya Nai temple in tambon Ban Phru, Hat Yai district, and the nun as Sudarat Limsakul, 55. The injured woman was not yet identified.
Police were investigating to establish the cause of the accident, which they suspected was poor visibility.
