Bus with 33 Chinese tourists on brink of falling into Phuket ravine

[webfact]

Bus with 33 Chinese tourists on brink of falling into Phuket ravine

By The Nation

 

Picture Daily News

 

A bus carrying 33 Chinese tourists to a hotel in Phuket developed a brake malfunction and was on the brink of falling into a roadside ravine in Phuket’s Muang district late on Tuesday night.

 

Pol Captain Suriyong Buakerdphet, deputy inspector of Karon police station, said it was fortunate that the bus driver managed to slow down by grazing the bus along a concrete roadside barrier until it stopped by hitting a parked pickup truck, sending the pickup down the ravine instead.

 

According to Suriyong, the accident happened at 11pm on the downhill road on Kata Mountain in Tambon Karon. None of the tourists was injured.

 

The bus driver, who police did not identify, said he picked up the tourists at Chalong Intersection to take them to a hotel on Kata Beach.

 

He said when he was driving on the downhill road, he realised that the brake did not work.

 

He decided to graze the bus along the barrier, which was on the opposite side of the road. Fortunately, there was no traffic coming in that direction.

 

The driver said the bus scraped along the fence for about 50 metres before it hit the pickup, sending it down the 8-metre deep ravine. The bus then managed to stop.

 

The tourists were later safely transferred to their hotel in another bus.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30347642

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-13

 

 

 

[giddyup]

Ahh! The customary brake fail.

[Darcula]

They laughed when the lady in the last row had 163 shrimps at the buffet. They're all thanking her now.

[cornishcarlos]

That's 2 accidents the day after the governor promised that Chinese tourists were safe in Phuket ?

[Carib]

Aaah yes, that old brakefaling chestnut again...?

[webfact]

Chinese tour bus crash on Kata hill

By Kritsada Mueanhawong

 

 

A Chinese tour bus has collided with a pickup truck then ended up slamming through the roadside barriers before dangling precariously down the hill. 33 Chinese tourists have luckily escaped from serious injury.

 

Karon Police were notified about the incident on Patak Road in front of the Kata power plant at 11.05pm last night (June 12).

 

Emergency responders arrived at the scene to find a white tour bus emblazoned with ‘Eakkarin Nirat’ dangling on banana trees off the side of the road. 33 Chinese, who were mostly uninjured, were in panic inside the tour bus. Three metres away was a damaged Toyota pickup truck.

 

Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/chinese-tour-bus-crash-on-kata-hill

 

-- © Copyright The Thaiger 2018-06-13

[worgeordie]

It's been a few weeks since we have had a "Brake failure" excuse,

Just hope the Police check the brake system,to confirm that the

brakes actually did fail,or  if the the driver was just telling porkies,

and was not just freewheeling or been in high gear while going

down the hilli,if that is so he needs to be charged with dangerous 

driving..

regards worgeordie

[smedly]

Last week we had an announcement that Thailand was perfectly safe for Chinese tourists and here we have a tour bus in a hedge and a minibus that cleaned out a power pole and hit a second - both had Chinese tourists on board lol

 

Yes Thailand the Hub of tourist safety 

[webfact]

Brakes fail as runaway Phuket tour bus slams into ditch

Eakkapop Thongtub

 

The bus ploughed into a parked pickup truck before plunging into a roadside ditch. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

 

PHUKET: A tour bus carrying 33 Chinese tourists narrowly avoided slamming into a house before plunging into a roadside ditch at the bottom of Kata Hill last night (June 12).

 

The driver told police that the brakes on the bus failed halfway down the hill.

 

Police and rescue workers from Karon Municipality were called to the scene at about 11pm.

 

Full story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/brakes-fail-as-runaway-phuket-tour-bus-slams-into-ditch-67485.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2018-06-13

[keeniau96]

Easy enough to verify the driver's tale by checking on for major scrapes from the concrete barrier.

[colinneil]

Now heres a thought, did the police check if the driver had been drinking, or do a pee test?

Probably not, just accept the drivers pathetic excuse, he was driving down hill in a high gear, riding the brakes until there was no air lef.t

[harada]

[LennyW]

Riding the brake going downhill again instead of being in a low gear, brake fade leading to brake failure caused by an incompetent bufoon at the controls.....again !!!

[Old Croc]

13 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Now heres a thought, did the police check if the driver had been drinking, or do a pee test?

Probably not, just accept the drivers pathetic excuse, he was driving down hill in a high gear, riding the brakes until there was no air lef.t

The bus driver was taken for further questioning and to be tested for alcohol, said police.
Read more at https://www.thephuketnews.com/brakes-fail-as-runaway-phuket-tour-bus-slams-into-ditch-67485.php#jl8S3dWGVVAaTHkY.99

[Old Croc]

Deja Vu!

 

https://www.thephuketnews.com/four-injured-in-bus-crash-on-kata-hill-officials-douse-engine-to-prevent-fire-66485.php#rjkods5Wo0gxswWS.97

[stevenl]

30 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Now heres a thought, did the police check if the driver had been drinking, or do a pee test?

Probably not, just accept the drivers pathetic excuse, he was driving down hill in a high gear, riding the brakes until there was no air lef.t

Since this is just a very short hill that seems unlikely.

[LivinginKata]

So one news reports a ravine, another a ditch. So know I know why my cable TV went down about that time. 

[LivinginKata]

17 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Since this is just a very short hill that seems unlikely.

 

Depends on how fast he was travelling and gear selected...

[stevenl]

Just now, LivinginKata said:

So one news reports a ravine, another a ditch. So know I know why my cable TV went down about that time. 

If I have the location right a ditch seems the better description of the 2.

[LivinginKata]

36 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Since this is just a very short hill that seems unlikely.

 

 Now that I know the location .... not such a short hill.  Not the first time there and not the last.

 

Driver talks about rubbing the barrier to slow down. There is just a few meters of barrier n that stretch. No help at all.

[DepDavid]

Hmmm. I’m not an expert on this but here goes:

 

Busses and larger trucks have air brakes

 

Air pressure is what releases the brake

 

No air pressure and the brakes fully engage

 

Unless these brake fail crashes are due to such significant over heating that there is no resistance (which actually takes some serious overheating), then clearly it’s NOT brake failure it’s driver failure. 

 

Ok mechanics out out there let’s hear your thoughts. 

[simon43]

"Pleased with the reduction in Chinese tourists at Maya Beach, the Thai authorities are experimenting with alternative methods to further reduce the number of Chinese tourists..."

[smedly]

5 minutes ago, DepDavid said:

Hmmm. I’m not an expert on this but here goes:

 

Busses and larger trucks have air brakes

 

Air pressure is what releases the brake

 

No air pressure and the brakes fully engage

 

Unless these brake fail crashes are due to such significant over heating that there is no resistance (which actually takes some serious overheating), then clearly it’s NOT brake failure it’s driver failure. 

 

Ok mechanics out out there let’s hear your thoughts. 

brakes will heat up surprisingly quickly, I used to race in motorsport and developed my own car, people would be surprised how quickly brakes start to fade even on a high performance road going car when used on a track, what you also find out is that the material used for brake linings is also extremely important, even on my current Superbike the difference in Pads performance is staggering and I use quality stuff.

 

My point being (as I have said on here before) I suspect a lot of these buses are being fitted with very low quality parts (the cheapest they can find) and this will have a considerable effect on brake fade and temperature, the lining material is extremely important

[Khun Jean]

So the fault is cheap Chinese brake pads?

 

[I wonder]

2 hours ago, LennyW said:

Riding the brake going downhill again instead of being in a low gear, brake fade leading to brake failure caused by an incompetent bufoon at the controls.....again !!!

Yep, don’t need to be drunk or high just being an incompetent buffoon will do it every time.

Brakes that are so hot and glazed through misuse FADE to an alarming degree and to an untrained nincompoop who doesn’t want to accept any degree of responsibility for his actions brake FAILURE is his only hope of wriggling out of any blame.

They would do well to start using electric retarders or exhaust brakes as non of these clowns seem to understand the low gear theory.

But of course I’m forgetting drivers need to be trained in the use of these devices in exactly the same way that they need to be trained in the use of gearboxes and basic driving skills particularly when they’re responsible for people’s lives.

Seems I got out of bed on the wrong side this morning ?

[peperobi]

Who is taking care of the security situation of the public cars?

[happy chappie]

Brake failure? It will probably be the abs system kicking in under hard braking.i don't think the Thais have any idea what abs is.if you ask them the answer would be a button on the radio.

[phantomfiddler]

Hope no-one was in the pickup ?

[madmitch]

The headline should read "Phuket Bus Driver Tries To Recreate Final Scene Of The Italian Job"

 

[jaiyen]

Since when is an 8 Metre slope called a ravine !  See it is later called a ditch !