Chinese tourists narrowly escape burning bus in Phuket

[rooster59]

Chinese tourists narrowly escape burning bus in Phuket

 

 

A group of 36 Chinese tourists narrowly escaped unhurt when a bus in which they were travelling from Phangnga province caught fire in Phuket Saturday afternoon (Nov 25).

 

As the bus was running on the Thepkrasattri road in Phuket, the driver noticed smoke emanating from the engine room and pulled it to stop by the roadside.  Then he alerted all his passengers who were Chinese group tourists to immediately disembark.

 

All 36 tourists escaped safely before the fire spread out and engulfed the entire bus.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/chinese-tourists-narrowly-escape-burning-bus-phuket/

 

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-11-26

[Somtamnication]

That was one lucky bunch of tourists!

[darksidedog]

8 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

That was one lucky bunch of tourists!

Seriously lucky that they had a driver who was actually alert AND was using his mirrors to see the smoke behind the vehicle! It does bring into question how transport vehicles here are checked and serviced. If at all. Buses are not supposed to just catch fire. Traveling in this country by any mode of transport is a seriously risky business.

[KarenBravo]

But, but........all buses are checked for road worthiness at Tah Chat Chai checkpoint.

That was the announcement from the authorities after the umpteenth bus had "brake failure" on Patong hill about a year ago.

As we all know, for any particular "crackdown", the people that actually enforce it, have the attention span of a goldfish....

[sebastion]

Death traps is an understatement.
The state of transportation in Thailand is up there with African nations.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

[Old Croc]

Looking at the video I find it interesting that traffic continues to slowly pass the inferno. Can't let a little thing like a fire on the road hold them up from their important destinations.

 

One less tarted up, death trap bus on the road is a good thing. This one didn't take any lives with it.

[LivinginKata]

55 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

But, but........all buses are checked for road worthiness at Tah Chat Chai checkpoint.

That was the announcement from the authorities after the umpteenth bus had "brake failure" on Patong hill about a year ago.

As we all know, for any particular "crackdown", the people that actually enforce it, have the attention span of a goldfish....

 

I guess this bus was not checked on entry to Phuket Island. No surprise there as it's all just lip service to save face.

 

And yes, good that another old tarted up bus hopefully is scrapped ... maybe ?

[300sd]

Quote

 

It's that maintenance thing again. 

[IamNoone88]

Can't wait to see the holiday selfies on this one.

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, Old Croc said:

Looking at the video I find it interesting that traffic continues to slowly pass the inferno. Can't let a little thing like a fire on the road hold them up from their important destinations.

 

One less tarted up, death trap bus on the road is a good thing. This one didn't take any lives with it.

What else are they supposed to do? Emergency services are there, so they have to stop and have a better look at things?

[topt]

20 minutes ago, stevenl said:

What else are they supposed to do? Emergency services are there, so they have to stop and have a better look at things?

Isn't that what they normally do..........

[jollyhangmon]

Well, obviously I should call myself lucky then that just recently one of their heaps just had a plain breakdown and didn't go up in flames altogether ... still, over 3 hrs wait in the middle of nowhere & middle of the night didn't make for many happy faces amongst their customers.

 

Neighbors tell me it seems to be increasingly common now to run into such problems (mainly talking long-distance) and I tend to agree from personal experience ... what's your take? More (public) transport croaking along the trip now ...??

 

Because fact is that prices went down a good 10% minimum maybe about 2yrs ago - apparently had to, in competition with cheap(er) airfares - something that certainly did nothing for the already terrible maintenance-philosophy around here. 

Pretty sure a good number of said breakdowns as well as accidents of course could be avoided by proper servicing, just to start with ... 

[atyclb]

the engine fire leading to fire engulfed bus is the very latest clever engineering passenger safety feature because it allows the bus to stop and evacuate all passengers safely thus avoiding the usual high speed accident that kills passengers.

[marko kok prong]

Good that the Driver was alert and responsible,and did not 'flee the scene' as soon as he saw smoke. Last time i was on a double decker to Bangkok i looked at the tyres when we stopped for food,all like racing slicks,no sign of tread at all.

[Lupatria]

2 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

But, but........all buses are checked for road worthiness at Tah Chat Chai checkpoint.

That was the announcement from the authorities after the umpteenth bus had "brake failure" on Patong hill about a year ago.

As we all know, for any particular "crackdown", the people that actually enforce it, have the attention span of a goldfish....

Imagining how many ways there are to have remote checks and fast lane inspections, I think the guys in charge are the "goldfish".

[Timbob]

I got a taxi from the airport last night and it took almost two hours to get to Patong. The taxi driver showed me this incident on his phone, explaining why he was taking a different route. He got lost more than once so it was an annoying journey, but at least I wasn't on that bus!

 

Glad to see nobody got killed.

 

[Russell17au]

3 minutes ago, atyclb said:

 

 

you would have a stronger argument if you posted statistics related to frequency of bus crashes / engine fires in the uk versus thailand.  per capita, etc etc .  the argument is not if engines fires occur in multiple countries but the POINT is do they happen in thailand at higher rates associated with lax maintenance/ safety, etc etc.

I don't have to make a strong argument, I am pointing out that Thailand is not the only country in the world that has bus fires that are not caused by vehicle accidents.

Simple engine fire, No, but fires through accidents, yes and that is not through lack of maintenance it is because of stupid drivers.

Can you prove that this fire was a cause of lack of maintenance.

Your argument would be better if you could come up with the statistics of how many bus fires have been through lack of maintenance

[stevenl]

44 minutes ago, atyclb said:

 

 

you would have a stronger argument if you posted statistics related to frequency of bus crashes / engine fires in the uk versus thailand.  per capita, etc etc .  the argument is not if engines fires occur in multiple countries but the POINT is do they happen in thailand at higher rates associated with lax maintenance/ safety, etc etc.

So you say somebody should prove other countries are no worse with statistics, and in the next sentence claim Thailand is worse without statistics.

[atyclb]

2 hours ago, stevenl said:

So you say somebody should prove other countries are no worse with statistics, and in the next sentence claim Thailand is worse without statistics.

 

# "stronger argument"

 

# the POINT is do they happen in thailand at higher rates associated with lax maintenance/ safety, etc etc.

 

i posed a question, not a claim of fact

[atyclb]

3 hours ago, Russell17au said:

I don't have to make a strong argument, I am pointing out that Thailand is not the only country in the world that has bus fires that are not caused by vehicle accidents.

Simple engine fire, No, but fires through accidents, yes and that is not through lack of maintenance it is because of stupid drivers.

Can you prove that this fire was a cause of lack of maintenance.

Your argument would be better if you could come up with the statistics of how many bus fires have been through lack of maintenance

 

 

i think i should take a break from participating here to avoid further brain atrophy

[stevenl]

43 minutes ago, atyclb said:

 

# "stronger argument"

 

# the POINT is do they happen in thailand at higher rates associated with lax maintenance/ safety, etc etc.

 

i posed a question, not a claim of fact

You claimed facts, being that " the POINT is do they happen in thailand at higher rates ".

 

You accuse others of making claims without statistics, but make a claim yourself without statistics. So yes, if that is too much for you, take a break.

[atyclb]

24 minutes ago, stevenl said:

You claimed facts, being that " the POINT is do they happen in thailand at higher rates ".

 

You accuse others of making claims without statistics, but make a claim yourself without statistics. So yes, if that is too much for you, take a break.

 

do they happen in thailand at higher rates ".       

 

is a question, not a factual claim.  you might be able to say "theory" had i said my theory is it happens in thailand at a higher rate

 

 

i would have wrote . "as they happen in thailand at higher rates" if i were stating a fact/ factual claim, claim based in fact

Edited November 26, 2017 by atyclb

[madusa]

7 hours ago, marko kok prong said:

Good that the Driver was alert and responsible,and did not 'flee the scene' as soon as he saw smoke. Last time i was on a double decker to Bangkok i looked at the tyres when we stopped for food,all like racing slicks,no sign of tread at all.

It all depends on how much you pay for the ticket to be able to see the tread on the tyres.

My missus told me you look at the price on the menu you should be able to figure out those are not real shark fin soup. There are no cheap shark fin soup.

[USPatriot]

Made in China?

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

[Old Croc]

14 hours ago, stevenl said:

What else are they supposed to do? Emergency services are there, so they have to stop and have a better look at things?

They should stop and wait until it's safe to proceed!!

You don't drive into a fire nor stop for a look. You keep at a safe distance until the danger subsides.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

18 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

But, but........all buses are checked for road worthiness at Tah Chat Chai checkpoint.

That was the announcement from the authorities after the umpteenth bus had "brake failure" on Patong hill about a year ago.

As we all know, for any particular "crackdown", the people that actually enforce it, have the attention span of a goldfish....

And pockets to fill...

 

 

[stevenl]

6 hours ago, Old Croc said:

They should stop and wait until it's safe to proceed!!

You don't drive into a fire nor stop for a look. You keep at a safe distance until the danger subsides.

They're not driving into a fire.

[Coconut Kidd]

Fortunately no one was hurt, but think about the hundreds of Mama noodle cups that got burnt to a crisp.

[beechbum]

Not sticking up for the poor upkeep of busses here but a failing fuel or oil/hydraulic line can be a very hard one to spot same goes for a water hose on the radiator.

A tiny crack in the line and some diesel or oil sprays like a mist onto the turbo and up she goes...just saying!