Capt Thanom Thongpaen of the Tha Chatchai Police was called to the scene, a curve locally called “Suan Maphrao”, on Thepkrasattri Rd southbound, at 3:45pm.
Police together with Kusoldharm rescue workers and an emergency team from Thalang Hospital rushed to the scene to find a Songkhla- registered truck overturned.
The barrier on the traffic island was damaged for more than 15 metres and tyre marks on the road extended for more than 30m, police reported.
Trees and two lampposts on the traffic island were also downed in the accident, falling across the northbound lanes, reducing traffic flow on that side of the road to just one lane.
The truck driver, Suthat Thaweeburut, 40, suffered head injuries in the accident. He was received from the truck cab and rushed to Thalang Hospital. The extent of his injuries have yet to be reported.
Before being rushed to hospital, Mr Suthat told police that he had driven the truck from Songkhla to deliver the wood panels to the Phuket Deep Sea Port in Wichit.
While driving, he lost control of the truck, resulting in the truck and trailer hitting the traffic island and overturning. What caused Mr Suthat to lose control of the semi-trailer also has yet to be explained.
Local council workers from the Mai Khao Tambon Administration Office (OrBorTor) organised for the truck to be recovered and the wood panels, trees and lampposts to be removed from the road in order to allow traffic to flow freely again – an operation that took some three hours.