Four soldiers were killed and nine people were injured in a horror van crash in Thailand.

The officers were travelling home from a long-boat competition when their vehicle veered off the road and slammed into a tree in Lampang province on December 6.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Arantree Sutisongkran of the Ngao District Police Station said cops received a report at 8:10 am. They arrived at the scene, where the mangled wreckage of the van was lying on the roadside.

The driver, Apichai Intawichai, 23, and a passenger, Julalak Tangkerd, were found dead inside. Two others, Sergeant Akkaradech Thanakham and Wirunrat Chaiyapetch, were rushed to the Phayao and Ngao Hospitals where they were pronounced dead.

Seven more troops and two civilians were injured in the crash. Six of them have been discharged, while three were shifted to the Phayao Hospital for further treatment.

The police lieutenant said: ‘The bus contained passengers, mostly soldiers from Fort Khunchueangthammikkarat in Phayao. They were returning from the long-tail boat competition in Pathum Thani. The scene is a sharpe curve, and the driver might have dozed off, causing the van to crash into the tree. The actual cause is being investigated.'

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.