German killed in bus crash

A Bangkok-bound Thai tour bus skidded off the road into a ditch Tuesday, killing a German national and injuring 21 Thai passengers, police said.

The driver of the tour bus, travelling from Phetchabun to Bangkok, lost control of the vehicle near the ancient city of Ayutthaya at 4am during a heavy downpour, police sub-lieutenant Decha Ratttanapakdee said.

Kurt Bocsynski, 53, of Essen, Germany, was the sole fatality in the crash.

The German national, a resident in Thailand for the past seven years, was travelling to Bangkok with his Thai wife Samniang to renew his passport and visa.

"We were married for 25 years,'' Samniang told Deutsche Presee-Agentur dpa. "After Kurt retired from his job in Germany seven years ago we moved to Petchabun and have been living there.''

Petchabun is about 300 kilometres north of Bangkok. dpa

RIP . Very sad way to leave like this , and for his wife she must be devastated . And again on a thai highway ,

very sad very sad .

RIP Deutschlander.