Ambulance Workers Shooting And Assaulting Each Other

[sriracha john]

Ambulance workers' turf war

Rescue workers from the Por Tek Teung Foundation filed a police complaint yesterday accusing rescue workers from the rival Pirun Foundation of assaulting them near Bangkok's On Nut Soi 7 on Monday night.

They also asked police to arrest people who reportedly shot at a Por Tek Teung vehicle, which was parked in front of Phra Khanong police station a few hours after the assault.

Por Tek Teung workers Chucheap Boonseng, 34, and Dome Prasongsap, 50, said in their complaint they heard a communication radio report around 11pm on Monday about a motorcycle accident in On Nut Soi 7 - and rushed to the scene.

They found rescue workers from both foundations were there and that Pirun workers were transporting the injured to hospital, so they helped to accommodate the traffic, Chucheap said.

A Pirun worker then took issue with them and punched Dome, after which other Pirun workers started to surround them, so they left the scene to file the compliant, he said.

While Chucheap was talking to police at 1am, two pick-up trucks passed by the station and one shot at the Por Tek Teung vehicle four times, damaging the side door, but no one was injured. Chucheap urged police to punish the gunman, although he was not certain if they were the same group that assaulted he and his colleague.

A Pirun worker, who asked not to be named, told The Nation both foundations had no problem at the accident scene because they had already agreed to zones for collecting the injured.

They were not competing with Por Tek Teung to collect accident victim bodies, he said. The Pirun ambulances would transport the injured to hospital from areas along Phra Khanong Canal, Prawet Burirom Canal as well as Parwet, Bang Na, Udomsuk, Lat Krabang and Phra Khanong, the worker said. But the Por Tek Teung ambulance had showed up "and crossed into our zone."

Asked about the shooting in front of Phra Khanong police station, the Pirun worker said he did not know anything about it - but a Pirun vehicle was also shot at near On Nut Soi 25. He was not sure if his fellow workers had filed a complaint with police about that incident.

Phra Khanong superintendent Col Sitthiparp Baiprasert said police would look into the alleged assault and the shooting of the Por Tek Teung vehicle to try to bring the culprits to justice. "There's a conflict of interest so incidents like this happen often and related officials must take care of these issues," he said.

- The Nation

[sriracha john]

Related Thaivisa threads:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...c=80546&hl=

Video: Por Tek Tung - The Thai Body Snatchers, A Race to the Death in Thailand

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...=142740&hl=

Rescuers Seek Rescue From Other Rescuers, the state of Thailand's ambulance services

[Scott]

This doesn't make me feel very safe. It's almost unbelievable. After many years living here, I am still amazed. I guess it really is Amazing Thailand.

[mads]

What happens if one of the ambulance drivers get shot at the scene ? Will more ambulance staff arrive and will this escalate to a scene of none stop shooting

[sbk]

Unnecessarily inflammatory posts have been removed. Lets keep this civil please

[thaigene2]

Unnecessarily inflammatory posts have been removed. Lets keep this civil please

Not sure what you removed (since - well - it's been removed), but I find it incredible that a country like Thailand doesn't have a centralized ambulance service - at least in Bangkok. Yes, yes, I know it is probably because influential establishment families have their fingers in the pie...supporting these different groups to cash-in on the hospital commissions. But still, suspending my rather chronic disbelief of most things like that here in LOS, even rich and powerful people need urgent care at times - and they sure don't want (any more than me) some guy lurching them into the back of a pick-up without any regard to their well-being! Or are they so sure of themselves that they will never need 'outside' intervention?? They better hope the heart attack happens at home during a bitch-slapping session over big-hair-do's - with all the hired hands on deck - because it may well turn out that the wrong guys show up at the side of the Benz!

Edited December 27, 2007 by thaigene2

[wintermute]

Unnecessarily inflammatory posts have been removed. Lets keep this civil please

Not sure what you removed (since - well - it's been removed), but I find it incredible that a country like Thailand doesn't have a centralized ambulance service - at least in Bangkok. Yes, yes, I know it is probably because influential establishment families have their fingers in the pie...supporting these different groups to cash-in on the hospital commissions. But still, suspending my rather chronic disbelief of most things like that here in LOS, even rich and powerful people need urgent care at times - and they sure don't want (any more than me) some guy lurching them into the back of a pick-up without any regard to their well-being! Or are they so sure of themselves that they will never need 'outside' intervention?? They better hope the heart attack happens at home during a bitch-slapping session over big-hair-do's - with all the hired hands on deck - because it may well turn out that the wrong guys show up at the side of the Benz!

Rich and powerful people won't be using the normal ambulance they will have doctors escorted directly to the scene and then given priority access to whatever hospital is closest. The ambulances are for the proles who can't afford the lifestyles of the rich and famous standard of healthcare. It's hilarious to me how services like these are so "mafia" controlled. You have the tuk tuk mafia, the taxi mafia, and now the ambulance mafia. Each has to fight over their little petty turf like soi dogs on a saturday night. Meanwhile some old rich Thai family is collecting dividends on the whole shameful debacle.

[junkofdavid2]

You have the tuk tuk mafia, the taxi mafia, and now the ambulance mafia. Each has to fight over their little petty turf like soi dogs on a saturday night.

Dunno the specifics in each of these cases, but it's hilarious as to how farangs in this country like to brand so many things as a 'mafia', when oftentimes, it's nothing more than a semi-organized and loosely connected bunch of workers/drivers/etc.... a lot less organized than the labor mafias, errrmmm... I mean unions in the States and Europe.

1) It starts out with some farang getting pissed at a cue of say, taxis, outside some hotel with informal fixed pricing and maybe earnings sharing (and yes, with brawling and even stabbing amongst each other if this is not respected), and then he says "What a ripoff! They're like a mafia!" Okay, statement still valid at this point...

2) Later on tells his friend "don't get on those taxis lining up there, they're like a mafia fixing prices." Okay... still a valid statement at this point...

3) And then the friend tells other farangs, "Know what? ' The' Mafia controls the taxis outside XYZ Hotel!"...

Maybe so! But you know what? This Mafia has special type of dress and weaponry... unlike the Italian mafia and Japanese yakuza which wear expensive suits and carry hi-tech concealed semi-automatic weaponry, these Thai tuk-tuk mafia bosses (the ones screaming through the bull horn) and 'foot soldiers' have authentic Thai-made shorts and rubber slippers, with sticks and some even have dangerously real (rusty) metal knives stuck on to wooden handles with some sort of (old) thick rubber band wrapping.

Well, at least it makes good story telling doesn't it? Among farangs and even more so when we go back home to tell our friends and relatives about how we everyday came in close contact with the Mafia in our "Dangers and Adventures in the Land of Thailand". Just don't tell them about the shorts and sticks...

Edited December 28, 2007 by junkofdavid2

[junkofdavid2]

It has always been the Thais that refer to 'mafia' in my experience. Most of the time they just mean criminals.

Maybe with you that's the case, but in my experience I always hear it from farangs exaggerating or wanting to tell a good story; whether intentionally or unintentionally and yes, sometimes, they believe themselves.

And by the way, from who do you think these Thais learned the word 'mafia'?

I don't think it's a Thai word...

Edited December 28, 2007 by junkofdavid2

[sriracha john]

Top Ten All-Time Grossing Films In Thailand

1. The Godfather, Part II

2. Goodfellas

3. Scarface

4. St. Valentine Day's Massacre

5. The Godfather

6. The Untouchables

7. Bugsy

8. The Godfather, Part III

9. The Valachi Papers

10. Married To The Mob

Highest Rated UBC Television Program of All Time

1. The Sopranos

- Bangkok Herald-Examiner

[thaigene2]

Unnecessarily inflammatory posts have been removed. Lets keep this civil please

Not sure what you removed (since - well - it's been removed), but I find it incredible that a country like Thailand doesn't have a centralized ambulance service - at least in Bangkok. Yes, yes, I know it is probably because influential establishment families have their fingers in the pie...supporting these different groups to cash-in on the hospital commissions. But still, suspending my rather chronic disbelief of most things like that here in LOS, even rich and powerful people need urgent care at times - and they sure don't want (any more than me) some guy lurching them into the back of a pick-up without any regard to their well-being! Or are they so sure of themselves that they will never need 'outside' intervention?? They better hope the heart attack happens at home during a bitch-slapping session over big-hair-do's - with all the hired hands on deck - because it may well turn out that the wrong guys show up at the side of the Benz!

Rich and powerful people won't be using the normal ambulance they will have doctors escorted directly to the scene and then given priority access to whatever hospital is closest. The ambulances are for the proles who can't afford the lifestyles of the rich and famous standard of healthcare. It's hilarious to me how services like these are so "mafia" controlled. You have the tuk tuk mafia, the taxi mafia, and now the ambulance mafia. Each has to fight over their little petty turf like soi dogs on a saturday night. Meanwhile some old rich Thai family is collecting dividends on the whole shameful debacle.

Yes agree with your last sentence. That's how all these people got rich - and why they turfed out Thaksin for his timerity in f+cking that up. (but never mind that's another long drawn out argument as we know).

Anyway, as for the ambulance issue I disagree. The rich absolutely need ambulances just like you/me if they are injured in a car crash on the toll-way or clutching their chest at home having a heart attack - and not a body snatcher with a smoke hanging out of his gob..

On Sukhumvit Soi 5 near Foodland, I watched a Bangkok Hospital EMS vehicle arrive (claiming on the side of it that it was a paramedic vehicle) after some fat Arab guy couldn't stop bleeding during a liposuction session. Why didn't they call Bumrungrad two sois away? I have no idea. But could you imagine some pick up truck arriving with no blood supply and haul 'fat ass' out onto the truck and drive him away to who knows where? Yikes!

[LivinLOS]

You have the tuk tuk mafia, the taxi mafia, and now the ambulance mafia. Each has to fight over their little petty turf like soi dogs on a saturday night.

Dunno the specifics in each of these cases, but it's hilarious as to how farangs in this country like to brand so many things as a 'mafia', when oftentimes, it's nothing more than a semi-organized and loosely connected bunch of workers/drivers/etc.... a lot less organized than the labor mafias, errrmmm... I mean unions in the States and Europe.

1) It starts out with some farang getting pissed at a cue of say, taxis, outside some hotel with informal fixed pricing and maybe earnings sharing (and yes, with brawling and even stabbing amongst each other if this is not respected), and then he says "What a ripoff! They're like a mafia!" Okay, statement still valid at this point...

2) Later on tells his friend "don't get on those taxis lining up there, they're like a mafia fixing prices." Okay... still a valid statement at this point...

3) And then the friend tells other farangs, "Know what? ' The' Mafia controls the taxis outside XYZ Hotel!"...

Maybe so! But you know what? This Mafia has special type of dress and weaponry... unlike the Italian mafia and Japanese yakuza which wear expensive suits and carry hi-tech concealed semi-automatic weaponry, these Thai tuk-tuk mafia bosses (the ones screaming through the bull horn) and 'foot soldiers' have authentic Thai-made shorts and rubber slippers, with sticks and some even have dangerously real (rusty) metal knives stuck on to wooden handles with some sort of (old) thick rubber band wrapping.

Well, at least it makes good story telling doesn't it? Among farangs and even more so when we go back home to tell our friends and relatives about how we everyday came in close contact with the Mafia in our "Dangers and Adventures in the Land of Thailand". Just don't tell them about the shorts and sticks...

It has always been the Thais that refer to 'mafia' in my experience. Most of the time they just mean criminals.

I think you'd be very mistaken if you think it is just a bunch of disorganised workers or drivers all the time though. Organisations like the Por Teck Tung are very large and very organised.

Exactly my experience also.. Its Thais that seem to brand any group of more than 2 disorganized thugs as 'mafia' here.. They clearly dont know what mafia or organised crime really is..

Phuket has beachchair mafia.. Jetski mafia.. Etc !! Laughable really.

[Ijustwannateach]

I'd like to repeat SBK's reminder to keep things civil here- more posts have been removed. Further trouble on this thread and it'll be closed.

[Golfja]

Unnecessarily inflammatory posts have been removed. Lets keep this civil please

but I find it incredible that a country like Thailand doesn't have a centralized ambulance service - at least in Bangkok.

Actually there are centralized ambulance service dispatch centers. Each province has 1669 call center, mostly stationed inside provincial hospital, who receive incoming call from people within its province, the commanding EMS nurse or in some case decision is made by ER doctor is the one who triage call. If it's trauma, they radio to nearest registered FR or BLS unit or sometimes ALS if the patient condition is bad, if it's medical emergency (not chronic), they contact local hospital to send ALS ambulance or send EMS unit from their own base to emergency scene.

Bangkok EMS command and control center can be reached by calling 1646, not 1669.

For more info, see my other post: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=163351

For EMS community, it's here (in thai) http://www.narenthorn.or.th

[moldy]

Ambulance workers' turf war

Rescue workers from the Por Tek Teung Foundation filed a police complaint yesterday accusing rescue workers from the rival Pirun Foundation of assaulting them near Bangkok's On Nut Soi 7 on Monday night.

They also asked police to arrest people who reportedly shot at a Por Tek Teung vehicle, which was parked in front of Phra Khanong police station a few hours after the assault.

Por Tek Teung workers Chucheap Boonseng, 34, and Dome Prasongsap, 50, said in their complaint they heard a communication radio report around 11pm on Monday about a motorcycle accident in On Nut Soi 7 - and rushed to the scene.

They found rescue workers from both foundations were there and that Pirun workers were transporting the injured to hospital, so they helped to accommodate the traffic, Chucheap said.

A Pirun worker then took issue with them and punched Dome, after which other Pirun workers started to surround them, so they left the scene to file the compliant, he said.

While Chucheap was talking to police at 1am, two pick-up trucks passed by the station and one shot at the Por Tek Teung vehicle four times, damaging the side door, but no one was injured. Chucheap urged police to punish the gunman, although he was not certain if they were the same group that assaulted he and his colleague.

A Pirun worker, who asked not to be named, told The Nation both foundations had no problem at the accident scene because they had already agreed to zones for collecting the injured.

They were not competing with Por Tek Teung to collect accident victim bodies, he said. The Pirun ambulances would transport the injured to hospital from areas along Phra Khanong Canal, Prawet Burirom Canal as well as Parwet, Bang Na, Udomsuk, Lat Krabang and Phra Khanong, the worker said. But the Por Tek Teung ambulance had showed up "and crossed into our zone."

Asked about the shooting in front of Phra Khanong police station, the Pirun worker said he did not know anything about it - but a Pirun vehicle was also shot at near On Nut Soi 25. He was not sure if his fellow workers had filed a complaint with police about that incident.

Phra Khanong superintendent Col Sitthiparp Baiprasert said police would look into the alleged assault and the shooting of the Por Tek Teung vehicle to try to bring the culprits to justice. "There's a conflict of interest so incidents like this happen often and related officials must take care of these issues," he said.

- The Nation

If you happen to be in the back of an ambushed ambulance, you may be justified in feeling just a little sorry for yourself.

[TopDogger]

Top Ten All-Time Grossing Films In Thailand

1. The Godfather, Part II

2. Goodfellas

3. Scarface

4. St. Valentine Day's Massacre

5. The Godfather

6. The Untouchables

7. Bugsy

8. The Godfather, Part III

9. The Valachi Papers

10. Married To The Mob

Highest Rated UBC Television Program of All Time

1. The Sopranos

- Bangkok Herald-Examiner

[sriracha john]

And by the way, from who do you think these Thais learned the word 'mafia'?

I don't think it's a Thai word...

Top Ten All-Time Grossing Films In Thailand

1. The Godfather, Part II

2. Goodfellas

3. Scarface

4. St. Valentine Day's Massacre

5. The Godfather

6. The Untouchables

7. Bugsy

8. The Godfather, Part III

9. The Valachi Papers

10. Married To The Mob

Highest Rated UBC Television Program of All Time

1. The Sopranos

- Bangkok Herald-Examiner

*preceding post added to the above post to keep it in its full context in which it was originally written*

btw, thanks for the

Edited January 18, 2008 by sriracha john

[BigSnake]

Yeah!! this has been going on for years. Just starting to hit the limelight again for some reason? Hope none of you need there service.

[bangkokeddy]

An ambulance worker got a bullet in the head yesterday in my home town, whilst he was enjoying his noodles at a busy restaurant. I guess some of these disputes are quite serious after all. I pity his friends and family.

[Tony Clifton]

Another model working perfectly in foreign countries which they refuse to duplicate and seriously regulate.

Why?

Power and corruption prevails over public health and safety.

[jellymeister]

Unnecessarily inflammatory posts have been removed. Lets keep this civil please

Not sure what you removed (since - well - it's been removed), but I find it incredible that a country like Thailand doesn't have a centralized ambulance service - at least in Bangkok. Yes, yes, I know it is probably because influential establishment families have their fingers in the pie...supporting these different groups to cash-in on the hospital commissions. But still, suspending my rather chronic disbelief of most things like that here in LOS, even rich and powerful people need urgent care at times - and they sure don't want (any more than me) some guy lurching them into the back of a pick-up without any regard to their well-being! Or are they so sure of themselves that they will never need 'outside' intervention?? They better hope the heart attack happens at home during a bitch-slapping session over big-hair-do's - with all the hired hands on deck - because it may well turn out that the wrong guys show up at the side of the Benz!

they have a centralized service....baht buses in Pattaya, motorbike taxis for rest of country....get with it

[sriracha john]

UPDATE... the street gangs moonlighting as rescue assistance workers are at it again... :D

Four hurt as rescue staff battle it out

Foundation workers in new territory war

Four Por Teck Tung Foundation workers were wounded in the latest scuffle between private rescue agencies over territorial rights in Bang Bon district on Wednesday night. The brawl took place less than a week after rescuers from Siam Ruam Jai and Ruam Katanyu foundations clashed in Bang Kapi district. The incident left two people injured and five vehicles damaged. Police who were called to the PTT petrol station on Ekkachai road about 11.30 pm found pools of blood and many cars peppered with bullet holes. The four injured workers had already been taken to Bangkok Inter 8 hospital. Police said Prapan Loomjan, 33, was shot in an eye socket and was later transferred to Kasemrat hospital in Bang Kae district. Apirak Rakjang was wounded in the stomach and later transferred to Luang Phor Taweesak hospital. A bullet grazed the neck of Anek Sae To, 39, and his left leg was broken by another bullet. Another rescuer, Jeerask Fuangsantae, received a cut on the arm. Eyewitness and Por Teck Tung rescuer Nattapong Suwanrat said the incident took place after his team received a report of a car crash outside the petrol station. When they arrived, they found Prapan wounded in the back of a pick-up truck. Three other trucks were riddled with bullets, he said. "I saw Siam Ruam Jai rescuers shooting at our foundation staff with their boss urging them to 'get rid of them all', before fleeing the scene in two pick-up trucks and a van," Nattapong said. Surachet Sathitniramai, acting Secretary-General of the National Institute of Emergency Medical Services System under the Public Health Ministry, said talks will be held with the Disaster Mitigation and Prevention Department and representatives from private rescue units on how to curb violence between rescue workers. Dr Surachet said brawls between rescue teams stem mainly from conflicts over under-the-table fees paid by some private hospitals to rescue units that bring them patients. Sometimes, brawls break out only because the workers are young and hot-tempered, he said.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.net/031008_News/03Oct2008_news04.php

Edited October 2, 2008 by sriracha john

[sriracha john]

Rescue workers rumble

Four Poh Teck Tung Foundation workers were injured after Siam Ruamjai rescue workers reportedly opened fire on them on Wednesday night at a gas station on Ekkachai Road in Bangkok's Bang Bon district, police said yesterday.

The Foundation's Prapan Lomchan, 33, sustained an eye wound; Apirak Rakjaeng was shot in the stomach; Anek Saetho, 39, had gun wounds to the neck and leg; and Jeerasak Feungsanthia a knife wound in his arm.

Nattapong Suwannarat claimed that a Siam Ruamjai supervisor gave his men the order to "get them all."

Nattapong said the two groups had agreed on separate territories to assist accident victims, but Siam Ruamjai had begun stealing the Foundation's jobs.

Pol Maj Gen Sakkachat Kittikajorn said that after dealing with the attack, police would call in rescue foundation chiefs for talks.

The trouble follows an incident between the same groups on September 27, near Soi Ramkhamhaeng 60 in Bang Kapi district, which left two injured and five trucks damaged. * and Por Teck Tung's involvement in the OP and Siam Ruamjai's and Por Teck Tung's involvement in the related links in Post # 2 *

- The Nation / 2008-10-03

[AlKing]

They get paid by the crops. Not surprise that they create zones, and protect their zone with all they have.

Not unlike fisherman illegally cross another country border when their stock runs out.

People have to make a living. There are family to feed. TIT.

Edited October 3, 2008 by AlKing

[animatic]

Another model working perfectly in foreign countries which they refuse to duplicate and seriously regulate.

Why?

Power and corruption prevails over public health and safety.

Which pretty much discribes mafia gangs.

And some wealthy capo up top taking a cut of everything.

Turf wars and unqualified individuals fighting literally for the injured,

and thus for fees for their transport; not to the hosp[ital of their choice

or the closest, but to the hospital with the highest fee.

They get paid if the patient lives or not.

The injured being no more than a product, like illicit lottary numbers or yaba.

[kmart]

Another model working perfectly in foreign countries which they refuse to duplicate and seriously regulate.

Why?

Power and corruption prevails over public health and safety.

Which pretty much discribes mafia gangs.

And some wealthy capo up top taking a cut of everything.

Turf wars and unqualified individuals fighting literally for the injured,

and thus for fees for their transport; not to the hosp[ital of their choice

or the closest, but to the hospital with the highest fee.

They get paid if the patient lives or not.

The injured being no more than a product, like illicit lottary numbers or yaba.

It's still unfortunately the benchmark of a "developing" country. They know the price of everything down to the last cynical Satang; and yet the actual value or benefit of sweet FA.

[sriracha john]

I'm waiting for the inevitable news report detailing how any typical Sombat suffers a simple ankle fracture from a minor motorcycle accident. He is initially picked up by Siam Ruamjai ambulance workers to be transported to the hospital. A passing Ruam Katanyu (see Post#2, 2nd link) ambulance vehicle spots them on their turf and opens fire on the truck with small arms fire. Sombat cringes and ducks in the rear of the truck in abject horror while .38's and .45's ring out, but Sombat is even more shocked when the Siam Ruamjai ambulance workers return fire with their own, superior automatic weapons. The Ruam Katanyu ambulance is strafed with bullets and veers off, losing control, and ultimately crashing into a taxi-stand/bus-stop packed with late-night party-goers returning home. Sombat can't believe his own personal good fortune and at the same time marvels at the impossibly bad misfortune of those getting run over by a modified pick-up truck careening out of control. While still in a shock of disbelieve from all of what just transpired and as his ambulance hurls down the side sois... a Por Teck Tung ambulance which witnessed the entire incident swoops down alongside of the Siam Ruamjai ambulance and riddles it with holes from three screaming AK-47's.... killing all its occupants.... even Sombat, from whose body the coroner removes 12 bullets.

it'll probably be in the next week or so..

[animatic]

Sadly this seems all too close to possible.

[sriracha john]

When the "humanitarian volunteers" of these foundations turn out to be gun-toting, arm breaking, leg slashing thugs...

a bit of their benevolent nature is a tad tarnished.

[neverdie]

......if your gonna be gunned downed somewhere, it may as well be in the back of an ambulance