Fiery van crash kills nine Myanmar migrants

By The Nation

 

 

SEVERAL MYANMAR workers smashed glass windows with their heads and fists to get out of a van that crashed into a tree and soon caught fire in Kamphaeng Phet province yesterday morning. But nine of them could not escape in time and were consumed by the flames.
 

“I was woken up by the crash impact and did my best to break out,” a survivor said from his hospital bed at Khlong Khlung Hospital. 

 

Five other van victims are injured, including 55-year-old Thai driver Promwat sae Phu. Due to serious injuries, two of the victims were transferred to the better-equipped Kamphaeng Phet Hospital later in the day.

 

Upon receiving the accident report, firefighters rushed to extinguish the fire engulfing the van on Paholyothin Road in Kamphang Phet’s Khlong Khlung district, only to find the nine people dead inside, huddled together in the front seats as if struggling to escape.

 

Pol Lt-Colonel Natthawut Somchaimongkol, the deputy superintendent of Khlong Khlung Police Station, said the van was heading for Mae Sot district in Tak province. An initial investigation found the van might have skidded off the highway due to heavy rains in the area, he added. 

 

Forensics specialists were gathering evidence at the scene and will interview the survivors to try and determine the cause of the accident. Preliminary examination suggested the crash occurred in heavy rain either because the driver lost control on the slippery road surface or fell asleep behind the wheel. Several fatal accidents have occurred on the same section of the road, which is long and straight where drivers are prone to be less alert or even fall asleep.

 

 

It is believed that the van might have been on its way to take the Myanmar nationals to a border checkpoint in Tak province to process documents needed for them to return to work in Thailand. 

 

The van was taking the Myanmar passengers from Phetchaburi province.

 

The bodies of the deceased victims are now kept at Khlong Khlung Hospital.

 

“Families of the deceased will get Bt300,000 compensation,” Kamphaeng Phet Governor Chaowalit Saeng-uthai said after visiting the injured victims at the hospitals. 

 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30356866

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-10-22

Not unbelievable at all.....road deaths are just part of Thai culture nowadays.

However, I think they need to ban LPG conversions here, because they either have no standard, or very poor standard.....almost everyday, vehicles catch fire.

 

Thailand escaped somewhat lucky here - imagine if it had been 9 more chinese !

Horrible horrible horrible! Thai traffic as normal. Its not long ago since something similar happend with a busload of immigrant workers from Myanamar. 

There must be other ways to deal with getting visas and job permits than to be bussed around for many hundreds of kms in old vehicles and reckless drivers.

 

RIP poor victims...

My God! 

  What a horrible way to die for these ill-fated people and their families. May whatever Power they believe in give them the strength to cope. R.I.P.

22 minutes ago, Deli said:

Will people from Myanmar now get free Visa and a priority lane at Swampy ?

 

50 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

 

Thailand escaped somewhat lucky here - imagine if it had been 9 more chinese !

Cynical, harsh but fair.

One rule for.....

But of course, we all know the Burmese are just cannon fodder here for the construction industry and worst of the worst factory jobs that no human, let alone Thais would want to do unless utterly desperate.

Tragic.

An insensitive troll post in very poor taste as well as a reply have been removed from this thread.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Families of the deceased will get Bt300,000 compensation

Is there a difference for this? 1 million for Indian and Chinese and only 300.000 for people from Myanmar?

7 minutes ago, RotMahKid said:

Is there a difference for this? 1 million for Indian and Chinese and only 300.000 for people from Myanmar?

Must be on a sliding scale depending on nationality and perceived importance.

As a Brit therefore I'd assume I'm in the 500 Baht category - plus a wai, of course.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

other van victims are injured, including 55-year-old Thai driver Promwat sae Phu

No justice  !

Order MORE speed  cameras immediately, that will stop them falling asleep or  skidding on wet roads, or order even more GPS's in every vehicle, that to will stop all this nonsense (sarcasmometer off)

5 hours ago, webfact said:

found the van might have skidded off the highway due to heavy rains in the area, he added.

Was the van's fault? Numbnuts.

 

NOTE TO RTP - it's the DRIVER'S FAULT! Travelling too fast for the conditions?

Lucky driver, can kills more migrants and turists next time .... at the same speed.

 

Poor victims. RIP.

If the van drivers were handcuffed in their seat, that might make them think a bit more, Maybe!

Another murderer survived and walks...

Kamphaeng Phet is certainly an accident "black spot" on route 1 and many Burmese are involved as it is the main route south towards Bangkok from the border at Mae Sot. RIP all the victims. Was the van using LPG?

5 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Not unbelievable at all.....road deaths are just part of Thai culture nowadays.

However, I think they need to ban LPG conversions here, because they either have no standard, or very poor standard.....almost everyday, vehicles catch fire.

You could be right. Looking at the pictures, the crash itself don't look to be that bad. If the van hadn't caught fire, there would have no or very few casualties.

Breaking the window of a vehicle is not easy. If there are no tools fitted for the job, using the ‘male’ end of a seatbelt should give you a good chance of smashing it. I doubt this will be the last van inferno to claim lives, there seems little interest in effective preventative measures.

The explosion was caused by LPG tanks right ? So if the van had normal petrol tanks most of them would probably have survived. 

 

One of the reasons I do not want to convert my car to LPG . 

 

 

 

36 minutes ago, Sir Swagman said:

using the ‘male’ end of a seatbelt

Carefully  removed for Thailand vehicles, my Wife's the only one who wears one  on the rare occasion shes' gotten on a bus, she sits next to the driver to and makes sure he stays awake.

All the time the mindset is to blame the conditions rather than adapting one’s driving to the conditions the thick cnuts will continue to die in increasing numbers.

Crematorium Thailand style.

9 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Must be on a sliding scale depending on nationality and perceived importance.

As a Brit therefore I'd assume I'm in the 500 Baht category - plus a wai, of course.

Forget the wai or assistance from the embassy !

probably have to pay tax on the 500 baht, and pay for your own flight home in the cargo hold !

On 10/22/2018 at 8:06 AM, RichardColeman said:

 

Thailand escaped somewhat lucky here - imagine if it had been 9 more chinese !

Nice post.
No respect for people who lost their lifes ?

On 10/22/2018 at 8:59 AM, thaiguzzi said:

 

Cynical, harsh but fair.

One rule for.....

But of course, we all know the Burmese are just cannon fodder here for the construction industry and worst of the worst factory jobs that no human, let alone Thais would want to do unless utterly desperate.

Tragic.

Fair ?