Lt Col Niwat Timket of the Thalang Police reported that officers were notified of the accident at 3:11am.
Rescue workers arrived to find the driver Janwich Ta-Khong, 48, from Chumphon, still in the cab of the heavily damaged truck. He was unconscious and unresponsive and rush to Thalang Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Officers said they were continuing their investigation into the accident, but suspect Mr Janwich fell asleep at the wheel as he had driven from Pathum Thani to deliver about 800 baskets of fruit, worth about B800,000.
Local resident Wichai Suebsunthorn, 30, said that he was watching television when the accident happened. There was a loud noise followed by items in his house shaking and falling over, he said.
He went outside and saw the truck and downed power pole, which was on fire. Mr Wichai said he saw a person climb into the truck and shout out that the driver had died. The man then climb down and drove away
Yun Upanan, 62, said that the incident happened around 2am. She was sleeping when she was woken by a loud noise.
Ms Yun went outside and saw the overturned truck. She also saw the man who shouted out that the driver had died.
She shouted out to the man to not climb into the truck to try to pull the driver’s body out of the cab, Ms Yun said.