PHUKET: Two people were killed instantly and seven more injured, some seriously, when a pickup overturned at speed on a major road north of Phuket about 5pm yesterday.

The single vehicle crash came as the black pickup streamed towards Phang Nga Town from Krabi and crushed a signpost as it flipped on a curve near the Na Tuae Clinic and the turnoff to a popular Muslim restaurant village.

On Phuket yesterday about the same time as the Phang Nga crash, one man was killed in Thepkasattri Road, Sapam, in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash. His passenger was badly injured. The men were not wearing helmets and it was raining at the time.

Worse was to come today when a van crashed into a truck in northeastern Thailand, killing at least 13 Vietnamese passengers.

Four other people were seriously injured in the pre-dawn accident in Chaiyaphum province, a district police chief told AFP.