Eleven-year-old boy drives into Buddhist pilgrimage in Thailand, killing eight monks

Who the authorities say was driving

The driver lost control of the delivery van before it plowed into the marching group, according to local accounts. Mukdahan city police chief Prayut Ruanthongkam separately confirmed to reporters that the suspect is an eleven-year-old boy. The crash killed at least eight monks, while 18 others were injured, 13 of them seriously, according to the Bangkok Post, citing internal police figures.

Eyewitness account from a surviving monk

A survivor of the crash, the monk Phra Sompong, said in a video distributed by rescue services that he saw the vehicle bearing down on the group. "Ich sah einen Jungen, der einen Lieferwagen fuhr und auf uns zukam," Phra Sompong said in German-language remarks. He added: "Plötzlich fuhr der Lieferwagen mit voller Geschwindigkeit auf uns zu und hat uns gerammt."

According to the Bangkok Post, the roughly three dozen monks had just finished a midday meal at a temple and had resumed their walk toward Don Tan district when the crash occurred. The procession was part of a longer pilgrimage that had brought the group along rural roads in the province.

Investigation and unanswered questions

Thai authorities have not yet released details about possible charges or how the boy came to be driving the vehicle. The case is expected to raise questions about child supervision and vehicle access in rural Thailand. Provincial police said the investigation was continuing and that further statements would follow.

The deaths come as a heavy blow to Buddhist communities in the region, where monks hold high social standing and pilgrimages are a common form of religious practice. The procession route, in an area close to the Laotian border, is regularly used by groups moving between temples.

International reaction to the crash has so far been limited. Thai officials have not named any of the victims publicly. Rescue services transported the injured monks to hospitals in Mukdahan and the surrounding province, where medical staff were treating the 13 seriously wounded.