This is the shocking moment a truck crashed on a Thai motorway killing one person and injuring five others.

The 22-wheeler was carrying cement when its brakes allegedly malfunctioned while travelling along Mittraphap Road in Saraburi province on April 2.

Footage shows the trailer truck ploughing into cars as it lost control on the highway. A pickup truck caught in the pile-up was smashed into a lamppost, shattering into a shower of debris.

Police Major Pichai Gurajinda of the Muak Lek Police Station said: 'At the scene, there was an overturned 22-wheeler truck. Its cargo of cement sacks was scattered across the road.

'Three other vehicles were damaged, including two Toyota pickup trucks and a Toyota van that struck a tree on the roadside.'

A tourist named Can Khundarom, 60, riding the van was rushed to the Saraburi Hospital but died due to severe injuries.

Five other people were wounded and taken to the Muak Lek Hospital. They were identified as Boonyiam Chatucheeva, 72, Chaiya Patthamhiang, 50, Janya Paosiri, 54, Chaibancha Nuannukul, 62, and the truck driver Parinya Sriprajak, 30.

Speaking to local media, Parinya claimed he was driving over a downward-sloping section of the motorway when his brakes allegedly malfunctioned.

He said: 'I tried to honk the horn, used the high beam, and signalled with my hand through the window to avoid a collision. I didn't want to cause an accident, but I couldn't control the truck because the road was going downhill.'

Meanwhile, van driver Chaiya, who suffered a broken arm and back pain, said he had picked up two tourists from the Suvarnabhumi Airport before they were hit by the truck.

He said: 'It happened in the blink of an eye. One minute I was driving, and the next, I was trapped in the smashed-up van with my passengers.'

Police Major Pichai said cops have collected evidence and detained truck driver Parinya for legal proceedings.

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.