Eight migrant workers were killed this morning when the SUV driven by a trafficker crashed as the driver attempted to evade Thai police in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand.

According to a member of the New Mon State Party who maintains close contact with Thai intelligence officers in the area, the driver lost control of his Mitsubishi SUV when rounding a corner. The accident occurred about 130 kilometers from the Thai-Burma border, on the highway that links the Three Pagodas Pass border crossing with Kanchanburi, the capital of Thailand's western Kanchanaburi province.

A nurse at the government hospital in nearby Sai Yok, who said he admitted the victims at 6am this morning, confirmed the deaths. According to the nurse, eight men were killed. Seven Burmese women and a man survived the accident, the nurse said, who added that their condition is not serious. The two injured passengers are scheduled for release tomorrow.

According to an article in the Singapore based Straits Times earlier today, the SUV's Thai driver was among those killed. This could not be independently confirmed by IMNA. 

The accident involved half of a group of migrant workers that departed Three Pagodas Pass in the last few days, a human trafficker who was not involved in the deal told IMNA. "Thirty-six people left from the border in the last few days. At least three brokers were involved in taking these people to Bangkok," the IMNA source said. Their whereabouts could not be confirmed.

The lead trafficker involved in the deal is Mon man from Ye Township, Mon State, said another IMNA source in Three Pagodas Pass. Though IMNA has repeatedly tried to contact the man via phone, is phone is turned off. IMNA field reporters and contacts in Three Pagodas Pass have also been unable to locate him. "He escaped," said the human trafficker who spoke with IMNA. "Now he is hiding."