BANGKOK – Eighteen passengers and motorists were injured after an electric bus crashed into three cars in Bangkok during the morning rush hour.

Mr Boonmee Janthaphan was driving the electric bus down Rama II Road, when he realised that the brake was not working after he went past Soi 4 of Rama II Road.

The 59-year-old driver said that he tried to keep driving the bus straight on the four-lane road but was unable to avoid the vehicles crossing the Bang Pra Kaew intersection.

Officers from nearby Bang Mod Police Station and rescue staff rushed to the scene to help the victims and to clear the wreckage. Some vehicles were so badly damaged that they had to be cut for the victims to be rescued. Traffic stood still for several kilometres.

The injured were taken to four hospitals nearby for treatment, and there were no reports of deaths at press time.

Rama II Road, which runs from Bangkok’s Chom Thong district to Ratchaburi province in the south-west of Thailand, frequently sees road accidents caused by motorists or road construction. THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK