Thai new year sees 138 die in crashes

As Thais celebrate the New Year, drunk drivers and speed demons have marred the revelry, causing hundreds of accidents that have left 138 people dead and 1,751 injured, the government said today.

There have been 1,544 road accidents so far in the first four days of the New Year holiday.

More than a quarter of the accidents involved drunken drivers, and more than four out of five were motorcycle accidents, the Road Safety Centre said in a statement.