Accident Veteran Mechanic Killed After Car Jack Collapses While Repairing Vehicle

[Georgealbert]

 

Picture from responders.

 

An incident has claimed the life of a 72-year-old retired mechanic who was working underneath a car outside his home in Taling Chan, Bangkok, when the jack supporting the vehicle collapsed. The man, who had often carried out repairs on the same car, was found dead under the vehicle late evening on 17 April.

 

At approximately 22:00, Lieutenant Atchai Nuimat, a duty investigator from Taling Chan Police Station, received reports of the incident on Chaiyaphruek Road. He responded to the scene along with forensic officers from Siriraj Hospital and rescue workers from the Poh Teck Tung Foundation.

 

 

Upon arrival, emergency responders found the deceased man pinned beneath a blue Ford car, registration number from Nonthaburi. The right front wheel had been removed, and the vehicle was resting precariously. Rescue personnel had to use cutting and lifting equipment to extract the body from beneath the car. The victim had suffered injuries to both his head and body.

 

His 47-year-old wife told officers that her husband, a former car mechanic, regularly worked on the vehicle outside their home. She would usually sit nearby to assist him, especially considering his age. She said she had warned him several times about the risks of using the jack improperly, fearing that it might one day collapse. The incident occurred while no one else was around, and the man remained trapped for an extended period before being discovered.

 

The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination at Siriraj Hospital, and police are continuing their investigation. The family has been left devastated, with his wife and children visibly distraught at the scene.

 

-- 2025-04-17

 

[Tarteso]

36 minutes ago, Georgealbert said:

she had warned him several times about the risks of using the jack improperly,

RIP

[SAFETY FIRST]

1 hour ago, Georgealbert said:

claimed the life of a 72-year-old retired mechanic

 

1 hour ago, Georgealbert said:

His 47-year-old wife

 

1 hour ago, Georgealbert said:

She said she had warned him several times about the risks of using the jack improperly

 

Did she tamper with the jack? 

 

72-year-old  wife 47yo. 

 

Perhaps, wify found a younger Somchai 

[johng]

Ford   say no more 

Fix or Repair Daily

 

If you jack up a car and need to crawl underneath always have a secondary support system,  blocks of wood,  axel stands or the spare wheel  anything that stops the car crashing down if the jack fails. 

I'm surprised a veteran mechanic ignored his own safety perhaps a bit of laziness and complacency lead to his demise.

 

R.I.P

[Mr Meeseeks]

Wrong tools for the job there. 

 

No risk assessment.

 

Etc.

 

RIP fella.

[Captain Flack]

Off topic troll post removed. 

[hotchilli]

A veteran who learned nothing.

[black tabby12345]

7 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

 

 

 

Did she tamper with the jack? 

 

72-year-old  wife 47yo. 

 

Perhaps, wify found a younger Somchai 

 

No surveillance camera.

No other witness.

Could be an ideal situation to plot the murder disguised as the accident.

A lot younger woman, killing an aged husband for money motive, not too rare in Thailand.

I have heard of the several old age expats who met the same fate in the past.

 

[Grumpy one]

8 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

 

Picture from responders.

 

An incident has claimed the life of a 72-year-old retired mechanic who was working underneath a car outside his home in Taling Chan, Bangkok, when the jack supporting the vehicle collapsed. The man, who had often carried out repairs on the same car, was found dead under the vehicle late evening on 17 April.

 

At approximately 22:00, Lieutenant Atchai Nuimat, a duty investigator from Taling Chan Police Station, received reports of the incident on Chaiyaphruek Road. He responded to the scene along with forensic officers from Siriraj Hospital and rescue workers from the Poh Teck Tung Foundation.

 

Upon arrival, emergency responders found the deceased man pinned beneath a blue Ford car, registration number from Nonthaburi. The right front wheel had been removed, and the vehicle was resting precariously. Rescue personnel had to use cutting and lifting equipment to extract the body from beneath the car. The victim had suffered injuries to both his head and body.

 

His 47-year-old wife told officers that her husband, a former car mechanic, regularly worked on the vehicle outside their home. She would usually sit nearby to assist him, especially considering his age. She said she had warned him several times about the risks of using the jack improperly, fearing that it might one day collapse. The incident occurred while no one else was around, and the man remained trapped for an extended period before being discovered.

 

The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination at Siriraj Hospital, and police are continuing their investigation. The family has been left devastated, with his wife and children visibly distraught at the scene.

 

-- 2025-04-17

 

Another piece of crap from China that would have been better used as a door stop

7 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

 

 

 

Did she tamper with the jack? 

 

72-year-old  wife 47yo. 

 

Perhaps, wify found a younger Somchai 

 

[black tabby12345]

49 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

A veteran who learned nothing.

 

 

Many of the individually run backyard workshops in Thailand,  use jacks, instead of proper hoist that can lift and hold a car steadily. 

If something goes wrong, 1ton metal can easily squash the man below...

[newbee2022]

8 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

the vehicle was resting precariously

As often.

Safety is just a word only.

[MangoKorat]

We've all done it but getting under a car without axle stands is very high risk.

[Ctkong]

7 hours ago, johng said:

Ford   say no more 

Fix or Repair Daily

 

If you jack up a car and need to crawl underneath always have a secondary support system,  blocks of wood,  axel stands or the spare wheel  anything that stops the car crashing down if the jack fails. 

I'm surprised a veteran mechanic ignored his own safety perhaps a bit of laziness and complacency lead to his demise.

 

R.I.P

Thai culture . They are used to bad habits saying I have been doing it many times and it all turn out ok until it did not. Then they would just blame it on bad luck never their ineptitude or complacency. Ultimately they blame it on bad karma. You can’t fix stupid. 

[Hawaiian]

7 hours ago, johng said:

Ford   say no more 

Fix or Repair Daily

 

If you jack up a car and need to crawl underneath always have a secondary support system,  blocks of wood,  axel stands or the spare wheel  anything that stops the car crashing down if the jack fails. 

I'm surprised a veteran mechanic ignored his own safety perhaps a bit of laziness and complacency lead to his demise.

 

R.I.P

This is what jack stands are for.

[Hawaiian]

23 minutes ago, Grumpy one said:

Another piece of crap from China that would have been better used as a door stop

 

Even high quality jacks can fail.

[Tedly]

  I never trust a jack alone although I've done it in my younger days, really a pair of jack stands should always be used, I've seen too many hydraulic jacks fail especially the newer ones. RIP to the poor guy, hell of a way to go.

[Grumpy one]

57 minutes ago, Hawaiian said:

Even high quality jacks can fail.

But this crap fails all the time

[Alexjkr]

9 hours ago, johng said:

If you jack up a car and need to crawl underneath always have a secondary support system,  blocks of wood,  axel stands or the spare wheel  anything that stops the car crashing down if the jack fails. 

I'm surprised a veteran mechanic ignored his own safety perhaps a bit of laziness and complacency lead to his demise.

 

 

 Not even the spare wheel. The wheel that you just took off will do. Cars in the UK don't even have a spare wheel now.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, black tabby12345 said:

 

 

Many of the individually run backyard workshops in Thailand,  use jacks, instead of proper hoist that can lift and hold a car steadily. 

If something goes wrong, 1ton metal can easily squash the man below...

Using a Jack is fine, just put a solid block under the car before yourself.

[emptypockets]

I know personally of two similar incidents. One was a jack failure despite the guys boss telling him to never work under a jacked vehicle. The second was when work was being done on a hydraulic tipper trailer. The trailer body was held in position with an overhead crane. The cranes brake failed. The owner of the business explicitly told the worker to do nothing until a solid brace was installed. His mistake cost him his life.

It also cost the boss his mental health, his business and ultimately his marriage.

Very sad outcome for all.

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, Alexjkr said:

 Not even the spare wheel. The wheel that you just took off will do. Cars in the UK don't even have a spare wheel now.

 

Which ultimately means we'd never need to jack a car up ourselves.

 

As a kid helping my father, I was taught to 'put the spare' under the car, just in case.

 

As an adult decades later, I've had to change two tyres myself (flats when out on the road) and followed that approach...  and thats before even getting anywhere close to going under a car !

 

 

A tragic loss - but the experienced fella surely must have known the basics... 

 

 

 

 

[Alexjkr]

2 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Which ultimately means we'd never need to jack a car up ourselves.

 

As a kid helping my father, I was taught to 'put the spare' under the car, just in case.

 

As an adult decades later, I've had to change two tyres myself (flats when out on the road) and followed that approach...  and thats before even getting anywhere close to going under a car !

 

 

A tragic loss - but the experienced fella surely must have known the basics... 

 

 

 

 

So many pot holes in the UK needing to take a wheel off is quite common. Up until last year my car was old enough to have a spare. Now the car I have has no spare, not even a space saver. And not run flat tyres. How useless is that.

[richard_smith237]

5 minutes ago, Alexjkr said:

So many pot holes in the UK needing to take a wheel off is quite common. Up until last year my car was old enough to have a spare. Now the car I have has no spare, not even a space saver. And not run flat tyres. How useless is that.

 

Previous two cars, no spare, but run-flats (max 80kmh for 80kms or something like that) - Current car, no spare, and no run-flats.

 

In 25 years of driving in Thailand, I've had to change the wheel twice - so its not really an issue here, although some roads are also terrible, just like the many of UK's B-Roads.

 

 

 

[MangoKorat]

14 hours ago, johng said:

I'm surprised a veteran mechanic ignored his own safety perhaps a bit of laziness and complacency lead to his demise.

We are the worst to be honest - done it thousands of times but know damn well that I shouldn't.

 

A parallel - don't think that buying a used car that has been owned by a mechanic is necessarily a good choice. Retired mechanic - yes. Active mechanic - possibly not.  We get so sick of working on motors that we often neglect our own.  

[Foexie]

On 4/18/2025 at 1:26 AM, Tarteso said:

RIP

so what?????????

[Tarteso]

1 hour ago, Foexie said:

so what?????????

Guess ! 

[simon43]

You should not need to get under the car to change a wheel!  When I've changed wheels in Thailand (in the middle of nowhere with no solid block etc to support the car), I place the spare wheel right next to the failed wheel/tyre, jack it up just enough to remove/replace the wheel, and then pull off the old wheel and push on the new in just a few seconds, in case the jack fails. 

 

I'm not under the car, so no risk there, but it would be a big headache to have the jack fail when there's no wheel on the axle to support the car...

[josephbloggs]

On 4/18/2025 at 2:14 PM, Grumpy one said:

Another piece of crap from China that would have been better used as a door stop

 

So you know where he bought it? Tell us about it then.

[Grumpy one]

13 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

So you know where he bought it? Tell us about it then.

Where else do they produce this crap.

If I am wrong please inform us where it came from and How do you know

[josephbloggs]

9 minutes ago, Grumpy one said:

Where else do they produce this crap.

If I am wrong please inform us where it came from and How do you know

I don't know, that's why I didn't state where it came from. You did.