Thai Princess' Convoy Met With Accident, 1 Hurt

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Tangail, Feb 18 (bdnews24.com) – The convoy of visiting Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn was involved in a road accident in Tangail on Thursday that left one injured.

However, the princess' car was not affected.

Police and local media said a car of the princess' convoy collided with a pickup van at Mirzapur on their way from Gaibandha to Dhaka.

A councilor of the Thai embassy in Dhaka was injured in the accident. She was admitted to Kumudini Hospital in Mirzapur.

The Thai princess went to Gaibandha on Tuesday at the invitation of Jivita Bangladesh' a local voluntary organisation, to observe the country's rural life and culture.

The princess is visiting Bangladesh as part of a US research team from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=153944&cid=2

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Senior Thai diplomat killed in car accident in Bangladesh

By Siddique Islam

AHN Correspondent

DHAKA: -- A Thai Embassy diplomat in Dhaka was killed in a road accident in the country's north central Tangail district Thursday.

Thai embassy counselor Pannee Likanajule succumbed to her injuries at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in the capital, Dhaka at 5:05pm (local time), a CMH doctor reportedly confirmed.

The Thai diplomat was first admitted to Kumudini Hospital in Mirzapur under Tangail district and then shifted to the CMH in Dhaka, by a helicopter.

The accident occurred around 1:00pm (local time) on the Dhaka-Tangail highway when HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn who was visiting the country was returning to Dhaka from Gaibandha, police said.

-- The Nation 2010-02-19

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Thai diplomat dies in Bangladesh road accident

DHAKA: -- (AFP) - A Thai diplomat has been killed in northern Bangladesh when her vehicle -- part of a convoy accompanying Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn -- had a fatal head on collision, police said Friday.

Pannyee Lickanajule, 55, deputy head of mission at Thailand's Embassy in Dhaka, was accompanying Princess Sirindhorn on a trip to a rural development project, the Tangail district police chief said.

The minibus Pannyee was travelling in "had fallen behind the Princess's motorcade and collided head on with a truck laden with iron-rods. The minibus plunged into a ditch," Mizanur Rahman told AFP.

Pannyee suffered extensive chest injuries, was rushed to hospital but died almost immediately, Rahman said, adding that the driver of the iron-rod truck had abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene of the accident.

Road accidents are common in Bangladesh and kill some 5,000 people a year. Shoddy highways, lax enforcement of traffic rules and commercial truck drivers' wanton disregard for road safety are blamed for most of the accidents.

-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-02-19

Published with written approval from AFP.

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UPDATE

Thai diplomat killed in Bangladesh car accident

BANGKOK: -- (TNA) - A royally-sponsored bathing rite for the counsellor of the Thai embassy in Dhaka will be held on Friday at a Bangkok temple after the diplomat was killed in a car crash while on duty to facilitate a visit to Bangladesh by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

The body of Pannee Likanajul, 55, is due to arrive in Bangkok on Friday after she was terminally injured in a car crash in Bangladesh on Thursday and pronounced dead at a local hospital, according to Thani Thongpakdi, Deputy Director General of the Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Their Majesties the King and the Queen will support the funeral under royal patronage.

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn will preside over the bathing rite at Wat Makut Kasattriyaram at 7pm Friday, Mr Thani said.

The United News of Bangladesh agency reported the princess's convoy was returning to Dhaka from northern Bangladesh where she had visited some health projects. The area is 72km north of the capital, Dhaka.

Mr Thani said Ms Pannee, a member of the team preparing for the visit by the princess, was at the project when the convoy left for Dhaka. The diplomat's car was hit by a speeding truck after she left later for the capital.

She was taken to Dhaka Combined Military Hospital where she was later pronounced dead, a surgeon at the hospital told local media.

The princess was in Bangladesh as a member of the research team of Bloomberg School of Public Health of John Hopkins University. (TNA)

-- TNA 2010-02-19

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Given the usual policy, this thread remains closed as to avoid any further discussion by those who may not understand Thai laws.

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