Police launched a hunt for the driver of a pickup truck carrying illegal migrants who fled after his vehicle collided with a motorcycle, killing a 13-year-old schoolboy, in Chiang Mai's Hot district on Tuesday evening.
The driver abandoned the pickup after the fatal crash. His passengers all fled. Eight were later detained and found to be illegal migrants from Myanmar.
The crash occurred about 5pm at the entrance to Ban Phae Luang village Moo 5 in tambon Hot, police said.
Police called to the scene came upon a pickup with no licence plates parked on the roadside, the front damaged. The driver had fled.
A dead boy, identified as Nong Arm, 13, a Mathayom Suksa 1 student at Ban Dongkham School, was lying near a damaged motorcycle.
Thai media reported that about 20 people from Myanmar who were on the pickup had fled.
The kamnan of tambon Hot, Charan Nawato, and two assistants found and arrested eight of the passengers, seven women and one child, hiding in nearby forest. Police were hunting for the driver and the other illegal migrants.
Police said the young victim was riding his motorcycle home when the crash occurred.
