Round-the-world UK cyclists killed in Thailand

(AP) Round-the-world UK cyclists killed in Thailand
LONDON
A British couple cycling around the world and chronicling their journey in a blog have been killed in a road accident in Thailand, Thai police said.

Peter Root and Mary Thompson died Wednesday when they were hit by a pickup truck on a road in Chachoengsao province, east of Bangkok.

The couple, both 34 and from Guernsey in the Channel Islands, left Britain in July 2011 and had cycled through Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and China.

They had been posting photos and details of their trip on the website Two on Four Wheels.

Police Lt. Col. Supachai Luangsukcharoen said Monday that investigators found the bodies of the couple, their bicycles and belongings scattered on the roadside, along with a pickup truck that crashed between some trees.

Supachai said the truck driver, 25-year-old Worapong Sangkhawat, was seriously injured in the crash. He told police his truck hit the cyclists as he was reaching down to pick up a cap from the vehicle’s floor, Supachai said.

The driver has been released on bail and faces charges of causing death by dangerous driving, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.

Police said the couple’s bodies were being kept at a rescue unit in Chachoengsao, 20 miles (30 kilometers) east of Bangkok.

Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed that two Britons died in Thailand on Feb. 13.