Three people were killed and 23 others injured when an out-of-control truck ploughed into cars in Thailand.

The 12-wheeler reportedly had a brake failure while descending a downhill section of Highway No. 323 in Kanchanaburi.

The truck loaded with goods sped down the slope and crashed into five vehicles on Wednesday, July 23.

Police said the carnage was reported at 9:56 am local time. They arrived at the accident-prone road - ominously dubbed by locals as the '100 Corpse Hill' - and found several cars overturned and thrown onto the roadside, while some were lodged on the central concrete barrier.

Sacks of vegetables were also strewn on the wet pavement.

Three people were found dead in a mangled pickup still lodged on the front of the truck. Officers said one had lost an arm, another lost a leg, and the last casualty had a ruptured abdomen.

Twenty-three individuals, including the truck driver Ekkalak Daraphong, were injured and rushed to Sangkhla Buri Hospital.

Police Colonel Santi Pitaksakul, superintendent of Sangkhla Buri Police Station, said the scene was a two-kilometre (1.24 mile) downward slope where accidents occurred frequently.

He said: 'We believe the truck experienced a brake system failure, causing it to lose control while going downhill, resulting in the multiple-vehicle accident. There were at least three fatalities and eight injured victims whose relatives have already been contacted.'

The horror crash occurred as Tropical Depression Wipha was lashing Thailand with torrential downpours.

The Thai Meteorological Department on Monday said more heavy rain and high seas were expected until July 24. It added around half of Thailand will be battered with increased rainfall due to Wipha, which made landfall in China's southern Guangdong province on July 20.

Wipha was downgraded to a tropical storm after making landfall in mainland China, then further weakened into a tropical depression.

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.