[Thai Boy Crashes Into Monastic Procession] 'The car whizzed past like a gust of wind'—Monks at the Front Managed to Dodge and Survive

(Thailand, 5th) — A tragic incident occurred recently in Mukdahan Province, Thailand, where a young boy drove a pickup truck into a procession of alms-walking monks, resulting in 10 monks killed and many others injured.

Surviving monks recalled the terrifying moment, describing how the speeding vehicle rushed by 'like a gust of wind,' and said the memory still haunts them.

Jack Loke, a Malaysian monk practicing in Thailand, recently led a team from the Social Life-saving Charity Foundation to Wat Phu Manorom Temple in Mukdahan Province to assist, where he spoke with several monks who experienced the accident to reconstruct the incident.

One surviving monk said that the monks were forming a line and walking together at the time; he and several others were at the very front of the procession.

Suddenly, he saw the monks ahead of him leap quickly to the side of the road, and he instinctively followed suit without even thinking.

'That car—it was like a gust of wind, brushing right past me.'

Jack Loke said that it was only after reviewing the CCTV footage and accident videos from the scene that he fully understood the situation. The five or six monks at the very front of the line were first to spot the oncoming high-speed pickup truck, and almost simultaneously jumped to either side of the road, narrowly escaping the disaster.

However, the monks further back in the procession had obstructed views, and as the accident unfolded in just a few seconds, they had no time to react to the danger ahead. The vehicle plowed into the group, many were unable to dodge, and were struck and thrown on the spot, resulting in a tragedy with 10 dead and multiple injured.

Another surviving monk revealed that he was knocked to the ground in the crash, suffering a sprained ankle, and the alms bowl he was carrying was smashed by the vehicle.

Jack Loke said that the surviving monks spoke calmly when recounting the accident, not dwelling on the harrowing details, but it was precisely this calmness that made the deep trauma left by the tragedy even more apparent.

He shared that the next day, when having breakfast with the abbot and those who had participated in the walking pilgrimage, the monks who had managed to jump away and escape death were at his table, while those who had been injured or traumatized sat at another.

'No one kept talking about the accident during the meal. Everyone simply ate quietly, but the fleeting moment between life and death was clearly etched deeply in the hearts of every survivor.'

This incident is one of the deadliest accidents involving monks in Thailand in recent years. The cause is still under further investigation by local police.