Police and rescue volunteers arrived at the scene in front of the Makro Supermarket in Krabi Town at about 8.30pm to find a heavily damaged Mazda pickup in the middle of the road. Fifty metres away, also in the middle of the road was a crumpled Nissan pick-up truck.
Sticking out from a smashed-up food shop at the side of the road was the back end of a large bus that runs on scheduled route between Haad Yai and Phuket.
All three people in the Mazda were severely injured and all died on the way to hospital. Ten more people from the other two vehicles (the bus was packed full at the time) were hospitalised.
The dead were named as Pichaiyut Chaiyadech, 24, Peerapat Nuchuai, 28, and Laddawan Nun-on, 32, the pregnant woman. All three worked at a rubber factory in Krabi.
Witnesses told police that the Mazda slowed down to make a U-turn, possibly heading for the Makro supermarket.
The Nissan, following behind, rear-ended the Mazda, ramming it into the path of the bus, which was travelling in the opposite direction.
After hitting the Mazda, the bus veered off the road and ploughed into the food shop.
The drivers of the bus and the Nissan were taken to the police station for questioning.