PHUKET: Police in Phang Nga were doing their best to keep crashes on the roads to a minimum, the province's Police Commander, Major General Apirak Hongtong, said today.

He was speaking after the third multiple fatality in the province north of Phuket in the space of 32 days, a series of smashes that has claimed 14 lives.

''The roads are carefully signposted but some people do tend to exceed the speed limits on the road signs,'' he told Phuketwan. ''It's difficult driving north of Phuket because straight stretches are often followed by dangerous bends.

''When it rains - and it often rains in Phang Nga - the roads become even more treacherous.''

In the latest crash on Saturday evening, four tourists were killed when their minibus, returning to Phuket from a day's outing, collided with a fish truck not far north of Phuket, close to the regional township centre of Tai Muang.

Four tourists were killed in the crash and five more were taken to a local hospital, then transferred to the better-equippped Mission Hospital on Phuket.

Four have since been released and the fifth, a man, remains in a serious condition. The driver of the minibus, who fled the scene, later went to report to a nearby police station.

Police have charged the man who was behind the wheel of a heavily-laden pickup that collided with the minibus. Chamnan Dabkeaw, 25, who waited at the scene as paramedics and police arrived, faces a count of reckless driving causing death.

He had picked up a load of fish on Phuket. His cargo was strewn over the roadside when the pickup tipped after hitting the minibus.

Phang Nga is not the only part of Thailand where it has been dangerousd this weekend. Five people died on Saturday in a car crash in Bangkok's Don Muang district.

For Phang Nga, the chain of disasters began on February 1 when four Swedish tourists and their driver were killed, and continued with the deaths of five locals when their traditional bus was run off the road by a passing BMW taxi on February 18.

Killed in last night's crash north of Phuket were three women and a man. They were identified as two Russians, a Turk and a Ukraine citizen, according to police.

Major General Apirak said: ''So often, Phang Nga is a province that people rush through on the way from Phuket to a destination in some other province.''

He has broad experience with the Andaman region's roads having served as commander of Phuket police, Phang Nga police and police in Ranong, the province north of Phang Nga.

He agreed there was a need for drivers to be more careful and to proceed with the dangers of speed and the province's winding roads fixed in their minds.

On Phuket, deaths in road crashes have been steadily reduced in recent years, although the thousands of people injured in motorcycle smashes continues to stress the underfunded health care system.

A high proportion of expats die in motorcycle crashes, mostly with alcohol as a contributing factor. So far this year, an exceptionally high number of Russians and Swedes have died on holiday in Thailand.

Erratic driving is also a concern among minibus and local taxi drivers who are often observed speeding to and from Phuket International Airport on on day trips off Phuket.

Phuketwan had the names of the dead in last night's crash but is withholding publication until relatives have been notified.