Train collides with bus near Bangkok station, at least 8 dead

A freight train slammed into a public bus near Bangkok’s Makkasan Station on Saturday afternoon, igniting a fire that spread through the bus and into nearby vehicles and leaving at least eight people dead and 25 injured.

The collision happened around 3:40 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. on Asok-Din Daeng Road in the central Ratchathewi district, in the stretch between Rama IX intersection and Asok-Phetchaburi intersection. Local reports identified the bus as a Route 23 or Route 206 air-conditioned bus. Video and eyewitness accounts showed a line of vehicles stopped at the railway crossing when the cargo train hit the front of the orange bus, dragging nearby cars and motorcycles into the impact zone before flames engulfed the vehicle.

Emergency officials said the toll could change as rescue work continued. Erawan Medical Centre reported at least eight deaths and 25 injuries, while firefighters and rescue crews rushed to cool the area, contain the blaze and search the twisted wreckage for victims. Teams from the Phaya Thai Fire Station joined the response as police secured the scene near the Airport Rail Link.

Thai media reported that the freight train had originated in Chachoengsao province and was heading to Bang Sue Station. The route details have sharpened attention on the crossing itself and on the safeguards that were in place when the train entered one of Bangkok’s busiest transport corridors. The crash underscored how a single failure at a level crossing can turn a routine road-rail intersection into a mass-casualty fire.

The disaster echoes a deadly rail-crossing collision in Thailand in 2020, when a freight train struck a bus carrying passengers to a religious ceremony, killing 18 people and injuring more than 40. Saturday’s crash is likely to renew scrutiny of crossing protections, enforcement at rail-road intersections and whether vulnerable vehicles such as buses are being left exposed on a corridor that has already proved deadly.