The bodies of the 25 people on board the passenger van and pickup truck who were killed in the fiery traffic accident in Chon Buri on Monday had been transported to the Forensic Medicine Institute at the hospital.

The kin of the deceased were waiting for the bodies of their family members to be released so that they could perform funeral rites.

It was a heart-breaking scene in the waiting room of the institute, as it was reported that all of the relatives of the victims cried together while waiting to take their family members home.

Sasinan Sitthibutr, mother of Phromphot Korsiriwaranan, 20, said she had never dreamed that she would never see her dear son alive again.

“My son studied medicine at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and he usually returned home to Chantaburi once a month.

“This time I asked him to extend his stay for one more day, but he insisted on going back to Bangkok on that day, so I sent him off at the passenger van stop and hugged him before leaving,” she said. “I never thought that it would be my last time I can hug my son.”

“I would like to ask the van operators to ensure more safety for passengers to prevent an accident like this from happening again,” said a friend of another of the victims, Suparada Prakongsai.

In Si Sa Ket, the villagers of Ban Wa in Prang Ku district also mourned the victims of the crash in Chon Buri, as all of the riders in the pickup truck were from the village and some families lost almost all of their members.

For the Singkhon family, the sadness was so overwhelming that the elderly couple, Ad and Shamon, had to be hospitalised for their sickness from grief, because their daughter, son-in-law and both of their grandchildren perished in the crash on Monday.

One of the villagers, Thanakorn Promli-a-sa, said the victims in the pickup truck were from Ban Wa village and they were returning to work in Bangkok from spending the New Year holidays in their hometown.

Kamthon Ninmanee, an officer of Klang Prakanpai Insurance Co, said all the victims would receive Bt35,000 immediately, while the remaining Bt265,000 would be distributed after an investigation.