Eight people were killed and five more were injured when a pickup truck ignored the safety barrier at a level crossing and was struck by an oncoming train in Thailand.

The passengers riding the pickup were on their way to work at a fishing pond in Chachoengsao province before dawn on Friday morning, August 4.

The driver Vichai Yoolek, 55, said they reached the tracks where a freight train was rapidly approaching, but the workers allegedly insisted that he drive past the lowered barrier.

He said he tried to race to the other side of the tracks when their vehicle was hit by the train, sending it spinning away from the rails and tossing the workers overboard.

Police received a report at 3 am and arrived with medics at the scene, where they found the carnage with eight dead people - five men and three women - strewn near the tracks.

Five wounded passengers who survived the crash were given first aid and rushed to the Buddhasothorn Hospital.

Officers also found freight train 833 with its engine still turned on. It had been transporting flour to the city of Laem Chabang in the east of the country when the accident occurred.

The Isuzu pickup truck was destroyed from where it had been hit on its left side when it was hit by the train, police said.

Police Captain Thirawat Pornprasert of the Mueang Chachoengsao Police Station said: 'The driver Vichai said the workers had come from the Wat Bua Roy temple in Bangkok and were headed to Chachoengsao. He said the reason he tried to drive over the level crossing was due to the passengers' insistence.

'We are now coordinating with the victims' relatives for the retrieval of their bodies.'

Crash survivor Suraphat Prasob, 20, said the other workers were sleeping inside the truck, but he saw the oncoming train and managed to jump from the cargo bed in time.

Their employer, fishing pond owner Wichian Saengtubsorn, 58, said they were scheduled to meet at 2 am today. He said he learned about the train crash when he called to ask why they were late.

The deceased have been taken to the Chachoengsao Charity Welfare Association Cemetery and were awaiting post-mortem examinations.

Thailand has one of the world's worst road safety records. Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.

However, a lack of road safety education in schools along with notoriously easy driving tests, police failures to enforce road laws, and chronic under-investment in infrastructure, all appear to hamper the efforts.