SURAT THANI: A man narrowly escaped death when a pickup he was driving was hit by an oncoming train at a railway crossing early Friday.
Police said the incident occurred about 3.50am at a railway crossing near a market in tambon Talad Chaiya in the Chaiya district of this southern province.
Tassanai Jiewmaidaeng, 56, the pickup driver, told police that while driving from his house to the market he went past another pickup and sped towards the railway crossing without noticing that the wooden bars at the crossing had been lowered. The pickup truck broke through the wooden bars and was hit on the rail track by an oncoming express train, No. 37 (Bangkok – Sungai Kolok), on the left rear side of the vehicle.
The left rear tyre of the pickup burst. Mr Tassanai was slightly hurt.
The train stopped briefly before proceeding to the Chaiya railway station about 200 metres away.
