Pol Capt Parinthorn Yaijunrthuek said while the accident claimed three lives, only one student was killed.

It was initially reported that three students had been killed when the chartered bus carrying them home to Chaiyaphum from a field trip in Bangkok collided with a pickup truck at the intersection on the Sikhiew-Chaiyaphum road in Dan Khunthod district on Wednesday afternoon.

“Pinyada Lappinyo, 9, was the sole student killed in the accident,” Parinthorn said. He said two others killed were bus driver, Wiraphol Thongkham and his wife Umaporn Thongkham. Parinthorn said 55 people were injured.

Forty of them were treated at Dan Khun Thod Hospital and the rest at Nakhon Ratchasima Provincial Hospital. He said the bus had been hired to take the students and several teachers and parents to view the Royal Crematorium in Bangkok.

A GPS recording of the bus’s movement indicated it had been travelling at 86 kilometres per hour and turning at the Intersection towards Chaiyaphum when it struck the pickup driven by Seksan Waengkham head-on.

Nakhon Ratchasima Governor Wichien Channothai said the road where the accident occurred was recently widened from two lanes to four and vehicles were travelling faster now.

He acknowledged that the Ban Kud Muang intersection had no traffic lights or pedestrian crosswalks and that pedestrians often walked on the road allowance because of trees in the centre island, leading to occasional accidents.

Wichien said there were five accidents at the same location on Wednesday alone. The governor plans to urge the provincial Highway Office to install traffic lights and remove trees blocking pedestrian movement.