Lieutenant Chanat Hongsittichaikul of Chalong Police and rescue workers arrived at the scene at about 6pm.

“Prince of Songkla University students Passatorn Chaicharoensun, 20, from Hat Yai, and Panicha Mingkanitkul, 19, from Trang, were heading towards a town on Chaofah East Road on a motorbike when a garbage truck, driven by 35yearold Sumon Pimchangmai, smashed into them,” said Chanat.

Panicha was first run over, followed by Passatorn, who was thrown off the bike and crushed under the front wheels of the truck. Rescue workers had to lift the truck from the front to retrieve Passtorn’s body.

“Sumon told us that he did not see the motorbike at the time of impact. However, we will investigate further due to the fact that the CCTV footage doesn’t show who caused the crash,” he added.

Police tests for alcohol and drugs came out negative for Sumon.

Videos and pictures of the incident were soon uploaded and shared on social media, following which users noticed a man with a red bag picking up a cellphone from near one of the students’ bodies and walking off.

Enraged netizens immediately demandฌed that the man be found and arrested.

However, the university’s Facebook page posted on Tuesday morning noted that the man had just arrived at the university to return the phone and explain what had actuฌally happened.

“Suchat Petsri, 43, is a private company security guard and he told us that he only picked up the phone to avoid it getting run over by passing cars,” the university’s post read.

Phuket Gazette reporters called Suchat to ask him directly what had happened that day.

“As soon as I picked up the phone, I saw that the truck driver was about to escape, so I ran to stop him. I kept him about 300 metres from the crowd that had gathered there, until the police arrived,” he said. – Phuket Gazette