Two people were killed and 13 others were injured when a minivan overturned at a bend in northeast Thailand.

The vehicle reportedly veered off the road while navigating a sharp curve on the highway in Nakhon Ratchasima province on the morning of January 5.

Passengers screamed as the van smashed through the road railings before flipping over and plunging into the hillside.

Rescue teams arrived on Kabin Buri - Pak Thong Chai road, where they found the car lying upside-down on the undergrowth with people still trapped inside the wreckage. They used cutting tools to extract the survivors.

They said two women, Boonhome Insakul, 59, and Chutamart Bamrungchua, 19, were killed while 13 others were injured and rushed to the Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital and Suranaree University of Technology Hospital.

Police Colonel Sommai Phisutsetsiri, superintendent of the Udom Sap Police Station, said in a statement: 'On January 5, 2026, at 5 am, the van picked up 15 passengers and departed from Pattaya, Chonburi province, to transport them to Nakhon Ratchasima Bus Terminal 2.

'Upon arriving at the scene, the driver claimed he had fallen asleep at the wheel.'

Passengers claimed van driver Danai Prachit showed 'strange behaviour' before the accident, shouting and honking aggressively at other motorists, and carelessly driving over potholes.

Danai said: 'I was driving normally, but then something happened. I fell asleep while driving, like I dozed off. I suddenly felt dizzy, which caused me to crash into a pole before the van overturned.'

Police said he was initially charged with reckless driving, negligence causing death and injury, and property damage.

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.