25 Passengers Hurt As Bus Rams Into Shops

[george]

25 passengers hurt as bus rams into shops

BANGKOK: -- During the morning rush hour yesterday, nearly 100 commuters were in horror after their city bus going downhill from Rama III Bridge crashed into a building in Bang Kho Laem district.

Twenty-five passengers were injured after a number 163 bus with some 80 commuters on board rammed into a small restaurant and a tailor's shop on Charoenkrung Road, said Lt-Colonel Udom Wongkaew of Wat Phraya Krai Police Station.

One slightly injured passenger was a former Thai Rak Thai MP's secretary.

Kanchana Phutthaauypol said she would file a complaint with police against the bus company, Thon Buri Transport, and the driver because she believed he had known the bus was defective but had carried on instead of stopping and transferring passengers to other buses.

Kanchana said the driver had stopped twice near the Tha Phra intersection to release water from the brake system and then driven on, picking up more people. Kanchana also noticed the driver did not accelerate going up to the bridge although there were no vehicles in front of the bus. "Going downhill he panicked and said the brakes had failed," she said.

The driver, Somporn Pharichai, told police that he had realised the brakes had failed when the bus was going downhill from the bridge so he had tried to steer the bus to a stop. However, when taxi cut in front of him he instinctively turned the steering wheel and then hit the building. He was charged with reckless driving causing injury and property damage.

--The Nation 2007-02-10