Five Phuket Tourists Die In Cha-Am Horror Crash

[webfact]

Five Phuket tourists die in Cha-am horror crash

PHUKET: Five tourists returning home from a holiday in Phuket were killed yesterday morning when their minivan slammed into the back of an 18-wheel truck on a highway in Cha-am District, Petchaburi province.

The minivan driver, Uthen Faksaeng, 34, is in police custody and will be charged with causing death by negligent driving, police say.

The 10 passengers of the van were all employees of the Siam Commercial Bank branch at Pratunam in Bangkok. Mr Uthen told the Nation Channel he had been hired by the group to drive them to Phuket and back for a short holiday.

The accident happened around 5:30am at kilometer 1 on the Bangkok-bound lane of the Cha-am bypass road in Cha-am Municipality.

Mr Uthen said that he had been blinded by oncoming lights just before the accident and lost sight of the road.

When he recovered his vision, the minivan was hurtling toward the back of the truck.

Mr Uthen was unable to brake in time to stop the crash, he said.

The front of the Toyota minivan was crushed in the collision, which threw some of the passengers out onto the road.

Three of the group, Thanakorn Bunlap, 28, Thirawat Thonglo, 30, and Saranrat Tangjit, 32, were killed instantly.

Rescue foundation workers had to use “jaws of life” cutting tools to free the injured passengers from the wreckage.

Two of them, Kanpapruek Chanmanun, 32, and Saratkon Usap, 30, died of their injuries in hospital.

The remaining five were not seriously injured.

Mr Uthen expressed regret over the accident.

Cha-am Police have taken him into custody and say they will charge him with causing death and injury by negligent driving.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-02-21

[TAWP]

Brake when vision is lost, not when vision is regained and the obstacle detected...

[random]

headline is a tad misleading

That said, another incident involving a minivan, s soon as he was blinded by the lights he should have been on his brakes, how close was he to the truck, had he seen the truck before he was blinded, was he blinded and then carried on at speed hoping to regain his vision before he blindly crashed into another vehicle?

[sydneyjed]

I've used the mini-van buses from Victory Monument now about 10 times and the only near miss happened when we were doing 120km in the outside lane and a semi pulled out from the opposite central reservation to do a three point turn!!!!I'll catch the train from now on!!

Edited February 21, 2011 by sydneyjed

[TheJalapenoKid]

so so sad... when will we have a clamp down on these mini-van maniacs!?! R.I.P.

[waza]

Blinded! By sleep.......RIP, passengers

Edited February 21, 2011 by waza

[x5david]

Another tragic van accident. May all RIP. When will something be done to reign in these reckless van drivers???

[pedro01]

Blinded! By sleep.......RIP, passengers

Absolutely agree - these guys drive too long & too fast. Chances are he was asleep.

A bit like the bus that hit my car on New Years Eve. He claimed his brakes had failed yet he never sounded his horn, took no evasive action and managed to drive to the police station afterwards.

[coma]

White minivans in Thailand are death traps. Commute in one at your own peril. I found driving around Baghdad in a pick up less nerve racking.

May..... have mercy on thier souls. :jap:

[chanx9]

may all RIP...

[BuPattaya]

Amazing only the passengers get hurt and die. The driver that caused the whole mess, with his reckless driving, walks away without a scratch. He does regret the accident though???

Edited February 21, 2011 by BuPattaya

[LTGTR]

Doesn't the bible say an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?So,by my reckoning,he owes............

"Mr Uthen expressed regret over the accident".Gee,I guess so,as he hopes to reduce his already lenient sentence from Thai (joke) judiaciary.Is this negligent homicide x5?He won't see 10 years in prison for murdering 5 innocent folks.May they all rest in peace.

Edited February 21, 2011 by LTGTR

[Stefanix]

Dirty black truck with NO taillights, van shielded with pitch black window films (maybe some peepholes), overworked driver, maybe stimulated by drugs. Just guessing. But this is the reality I have experienced on my frequent trips between BKK and Krabi. And this is well tolerated by the police. I have no idea what those checkpoints are good for. Even the most obvious junk cars can pass.

[ljerams]

A terrible crime not an accident in my opinion.

Are they actually licenced to drive a vehicle carrying passengers?

[backfromouterspace]

Why oh why oh why etc.

[geriatrickid]

The front of the Toyota minivan was crushed in the collision, which threw some of the passengers out onto the road.

No seatbelts in the van or were the passengers unbuckled?

[mkeebler]

Too bad he does not have an influential family with relatives in the police force, then he would walk away scott free.<br>  As I recall, the young lady who slammed in the back of the mini van in Bkk causing it to go over the overpass killing 8 people did not get arrested or anything. I have heard nothing more about it because of the influence her family has.  Sad.<br><br>Justice should be done either way, equally for all.  Luckily I have a different kind of Thai Girlfriend, one who speaks her mind and will tell the driver to slow the hell down or she will vomit on his floors.....and she would too.  Ha ha ha!  True, and she usually gets what she wants.<br><br>And no, most Thais do not wear seat belts in the vans or Taxi's. I guess they feel safe enough holding the baby in their lap!!<br>

Edited February 21, 2011 by mkeebler

[Boater]

and if the passengers had been wearing Seatbelts, a few lives would have been saved

RIP

[whatchamacallit]

This is probably the same style 9 passenger Van that I took for my Visa Runs.

Problem 1: No seatbelt for passenger sitting in back - even there are seatbelts they often don't function.

Problem 2: Most of the drivers drive too fast probably trying to keep to a tight schedule.

[BuPattaya]

Dirty black truck with NO taillights, van shielded with pitch black window films (maybe some peepholes), overworked driver, maybe stimulated by drugs. Just guessing. But this is the reality I have experienced on my frequent trips between BKK and Krabi. And this is well tolerated by the police. I have no idea what those checkpoints are good for. Even the most obvious junk cars can pass.

Checkpoints are to check your wallet. They need coffee and donuts.

[onnut]

This is nuts! When will the police clamp down on these cowboys ? Probably never.

Van drivers are braindead, we know that by the way they drive. Thailand is to blame for this, the whole system fails the people.

It will take years to sort this mess out.

RIP

[londonthai]

"employees of the Siam Commercial Bank branch at Pratunam in Bangkok. ... The front of the Toyota minivan was crushed in the collision, which threw some of the passengers out onto the road."

difficult to say about about driver skills, but a reputable company mini-van should be equipped with safety belts and a (reasonably) educated employees should know to use them at all times.

if there were no belt in the van, than company should be responsible for paying compensation to the deceased families and for the hospital treatment for the others.

the title is attention grabbing, as "tourists" is commonly understood in thailand as "foreigners". More likely those in the van were holidaymakers.

edit - the others spotted the same, my slow connection

Edited February 21, 2011 by londonthai

[stander]

We heard the sirens yesterday morning at about 06:00 and I said to my wife "there has probably been yet another pile-up on the by-pass".

The amount of accidents on this 28km stretch of highway is incredible and they mostly seem to occur during the night or early morning.

[BuPattaya]

Too bad he does not have an influential family with relatives in the police force, then he would walk away scott free. As I recall, the young lady who slammed in the back of the mini van in Bkk causing it to go over the overpass killing 8 people did not get arrested or anything. I have heard nothing more about it because of the influence her family has. Sad. Only in Thailand?

It truly is sad. If they are rich, they walk away scott-free, but if no money, even if not at fault. The are totally unfair. I have seen it firsthand, but don't really want to go into the details of that mess. This is part of the reason why they are constantly having demonstrations and looking for better gov't.

[johncat1]

I have been driving in Thailand for 10 years now and in all that time I have NEVER been stuck behind a slow minivan ( UK calls them a mini-bus ) Minivans are one of the fastest vehicles on the roads I just let them pass me when they tailgate me ( sit less than a metre from the rear of my car ) These vehicles should have speed limiters fitted to them ( and imprisonment if removed ) many vehicles in the UK and Australia have speed limiters fitted to buses and commercial vehicles ( trucks/lorries bus/coaches ) In the UK you have to hold a special licence to drive a minibus ( minivan ) if you are carrying fare paying passengers or the minibus is hired I have been passed by many school minivans loaded with students or teachers driving at reckless speed Thai drivers do not care about the safety of their passengers and they are amongst the worst drivers in the world Driving the wrong way along any road especially main highways because they are too lazy to find a suitable u turn ( The police in the uk would arrest you if you did a u turn on a motorway because it is a very dangerous manoeuvre ) Lights are optional to Thais and many use other colours instead of red and white When a Thai wants to overtake they just pull out and flash their light as if that will protect them when they are in the wrong AND as for traffic signals Thais just look at them and think "those look pretty " then keep driving through a red light The left turn onto a road is one of the most amusing and dangerous things I have seen The driver / rider NEVER looks or stops and most often never even slows down OK Westerners speed BUT we look and think ahead always thinking and ready to brake

BUT we do have a good police force who are respected and can enforce the law

Edited February 21, 2011 by johncat1

[SantiSuk]

Unfortunately Thai passengers do not seem to understand dangerous driving and will not exercise their own will on a driver they employ. Thais seem to be only interested in how quickly they can get there, which is why they have a love of voyaging at night when the roads are clearer and clearly more dangerous.

The truck must have been parked or traveling very slow.

[landslide]

I have driven this road numerous times in the past. I generally avoid driving in the dark along here. Trucks in Thailand are poorly lit, generally underpowered, and totally oblivious to other vehicles on the road. They pull on the road at the last second, and lack the power to get up to speed in a reasonable period of time. Trucks in my home country are lit up like Christmas trees, and can be seen from a long distance away. This in no way mitigates a driver who was probably driving too fast and did not brake when he lost vision. Anyone who has spent any time on the roads between towns in Thailand has experienced being passed by these minivans driving like a bat out of hell. Scares the living hell out of me.

Edited February 21, 2011 by landslide

[yumidesign]

This is nuts! When will the police clamp down on these cowboys ? Probably never.

Van drivers are braindead, we know that by the way they drive. Thailand is to blame for this, the whole system fails the people.

It will take years to sort this mess out.

RIP

it will take never. How fast was the van going?

[pacovl46]

how many more people have to fall out of vans and off tollways amongst other things until they finally put in and use fricking seat belts????

[dmsnsa]

Let's be honest this crash like hundreds that preceded it are a factor of many things.

One contract drivers have no binding regulations that they have to observer. They drive for too few baht. If there where standards that enforced licencing then perhaps they could make a decent wage and be regulate to drive fewer hours. Next the design of Thai highways is simple madness. I know that driving from Bangkok to Korat, I can be doing XXX km/h and suddenly I have an 18 wheeler changing directions via a stupid U-turn. The Thai government should be the one being sued here, they need to implement more over-passes instead of these stupid U-turn locations.