Eleven-Year-Old Driver Hits Buddhist Pilgrims, Killing Nine Monks in Thailand

A pickup truck operated by an 11-year-old boy collided with a procession of 34 Buddhist monks traveling on foot through Thailand's Isan region on Thursday, killing nine and wounding eleven, police reported. The vehicle, which the boy allegedly took after finding a key left in it, struck the monks near Mukdahan province, about 400 miles north of Bangkok. Five monks were declared dead at the scene, three died later at a nearby hospital, and a ninth monk succumbed to injuries that evening, provincial governor Worayan Bunnarat said at a news conference. Emergency services appealed for blood donations.

The monks were accompanied by five lay followers as part of a long-distance pilgrimage, a traditional Buddhist practice. Police said they are investigating the cause of the crash, noting that witnesses reported the truck swerving before impact.

One surviving monk, identified as Sompong, told a volunteer rescue group that he moved to the far right of the road after feeling a warning, and described seeing his companions struck and thrown into the air.

"I jumped to the side of the road. I saw my fellow monks being hit by the car and thrown into the air," Sompong said in a video posted by the Mukdahan Rescue Association.

Social media users expressed shock and raised questions about responsibility, with some commenting on the boy's parents.