A bus carrying devotees to a temple crashed injuring at least 38 people in Thailand.

The coach was driving downhill when its brakes allegedly malfunctioned along Mittraphap Road in Nakhon Ratchasima province on October 21. It ploughed into several vehicles as it hurtled down the slope.

Police Lieutenant Auaychai Promwong of the Klang Dong Police Station said police were notified about the pile-up at around 1:30 am.

They arrived at the scene and found the crumpled yellow bus with its front windshield shattered. Thirty-eight injured passengers, including two severely wounded women, were taken to the nearby Pak Chong Nana and Muaklek Hospitals.

Two six-wheeler trucks and two pickup trucks were also damaged.

Bus driver Thanapoj Yooyen, 68, said the accident occurred after he picked up passengers from a different bus that broke down.

He said: 'We were headed to Kanchanaburi province. After picking up the passengers, I had been driving for around 12 miles (20 kilometres) when the bus began accelerating as we went downhill. I couldn't stop it because the brakes wouldn't work.'

One of the bus passengers said the group of devotees were returning home after giving offerings to monks in a religious ceremony.

He said: 'Our first bus broke down while we were travelling uphill, so the bus company sent another coach for us. We were driving slowly because of traffic jam, but apparently the brakes were faulty so we crashed.'

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.