This is the shocking moment a schoolboy fell from a moving van in Thailand.

The minibus was taking pupils to school when its rear door opened at a junction in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, at around 6:30 am on February 25.

Dashcam footage shows a first-grader rolling onto the road as the van left him behind to drive past the green traffic light. The youngster sat stunned in the middle of traffic as other motorists rushed over to help him.

Bus driver Jakkapong, 40, turned around to pick up the schoolboy.

Police and local transport officials detained Jakkapong after he surrendered to the police station in the afternoon. They inspected his van - with its seats replaced with three rows of steel benches - and found that it was 'in poor condition'.

The rear door lock was also reportedly found to be faulty.

Jakkapong said: 'I have been a school bus driver for many years. What happened today was an accident. The rear door lock may have been broken. I have already apologised to the boy, his parents, and the public. After he fell from the van, I immediately turned back to help him.'

A police spokesman said Jakkapong will be fined 1,000 (23 GBP) THB for reckless driving causing injury, and an additional 4,000 THB (94 GBP) for violations under the Land Transport Act.

He was also ordered to modify his van to meet legal standards and to obtain a permit to operate a school bus.

Despite being one of the wealthiest countries in Asia, Thailand suffers from chronic underinvestment in its highways and education, contributing to its poor road safety levels. Only a handful of African countries are worse.

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.

(1 GBP = 42.70 THB)