Two Dead, Many Injured In Phuket School Van Crash

[webfact]

Two dead, many injured in Phuket school van crash

The crash resulted in long traffic tailbacks on Phuket's north-south artery

for most of the morning. Photo: Wichai Witthawat

More than 10 children survived the crash with only minor injuries.

Photo: Wichai Witthawat

PHUKET: -- A three-vehicle collision near the Heroines’ Monument in Phuket left two dead and many injured this morning.

The two dead were staff members at the well-known Muslim Witthaya School in Koh Kaew.

Police identified one the deceased as 54-year-old Phang Nga resident San Thasai, driver of a school van transporting young school students from their homes in Baan Bang Khli in Phang Nga’s Tai Muang District.

Also killed was Oranong Junthanit, who was sitting in the back row of the van.

A member of the school’s finance division, Mrs Oranong also served as chaperone to the young students on their way to school.

At about 6:30am, the van was heading southbound on Thepkrasattri Road as normal when it was involved in a collision with a pickup truck laden with watermelons, durian and other fruit.

The exact details of the situation leading to the crash are still under investigation, but the impact of the collision caused the pickup to overturn, spilling its cargo onto the road.

The accident occurred in the southbound lane, near the U-turn north of the monument.

The third vehicle in the crash was a motorbike that ended up in a drainage ditch. The female driver was sent to Mission Hospital for minor injuries.

Miraculously, none of the young students inside the van were seriously injured in the crash. More than 10 students were in the van.

The driver of the pickup and his one passenger also escaped without serious injury.

However, most of the people involved in the accident were taken to hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

A rescue worker at the scene said the carnage could have been far worse if the children had been traveling by songthew (modified pickup) instead of a van, as the children would have been thrown forward into the back of the cab at high speed.

The van seats cushioned the impact and allowed most of the child passengers to escape with cuts and bruises, he said.

The accident caused long tailbacks on Thepkrasattri Road throughout the morning.

In another road accident death in Thalang last night, a man was killed instantly when he was hit by a car on the road from Heroines’ Monument to Pa Khlok, near the Sitthisoonthorn Bamroong School in Baan Phakcheed.

Witnesses said the man came to a mom-and-pop store at the scene to buy alcohol.

Learning that the shop did not sell spirits, he tried to cross the road to buy from a shop across the street, they said.

He died instantly of massive head trauma when he was hit by a Honda City.

The force of the impact left the windshield shattered and bloodstained.

When police led by Thalang Police Duty Officer Praman Yomkaphan arrived at the scene, they found the car parked by the side of the road and the female driver crying.

The deceased had no identification and local residents had no idea who he was.

Police turned the body over to Kusoldharm Foundation workers who took it to the Thalang Hospital morgue.

Anyone who may know the identity of the deceased is urged to call Thalang Police at 076-311123.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-06-21

[hehehoho]

Wonder if the van had the seatbelts cut off, or tied up with plastic ties so they couldn't be used. Doesn't sound like they had. Perhaps minivan drivers should pay heed.

[laurentbkk]

At about 6:30am, the van was heading southbound on Thepkrasattri Road as normal when it was involved in a collision with a pickup truck laden with watermelons, durian and other fruit.

The exact details of the situation leading to the crash are still under investigation, but the impact of the collision caused the pickup to overturn, spilling its cargo onto the road.

Those Mini vans usually drive TOO FAST , I see those vans every morning when I drive to my work ..speeding speeding speeding .... nothing else and no respects for their passengers. Also many time I have seen kids sitting on the front seat next to the driver and of course without safety belt .... A big change is needed in the mentality here , and also for the drivers who put in jeopardy the life of others .... Let see what will be the result of the investigation ....

[webfact]

School van crash: Police to pursue charges against pickup driver

The female driver of the motorbike only remembers being hit hard from behind

and catapulted into a water-filled drainage ditch.

PHUKET: -- Police will pursue charges against the driver of a speeding pickup that crashed into a school van on Tuesday morning, killing two and leaving many others injured.

The driver, 41-year-old Nikom Kaewmanee, told police he was driving at about 100kmh when he tried to overtake the van, which had 15 occupants, Thalang Police told the Phuket Gazette .

The speed limit on the densely-settled stretch of road where the accident took place is 60kmh, according to the Highways Department.

Mr Nikom told Thalang Police he was in the passing lane when his vehicle was hit by the van. The impact forced his pickup onto the median strip, causing his vehicle to overturn.

However, police say that physical evidence from the scene make this version of events doubtful.

They will question surviving passengers as part of the ongoing investigation, Capt Pramarn said.

The third party to the accident, a woman on a motorbike, added little detail in the investigation, he said.

“She was not sure exactly happened. She just felt something hit her very hard from behind and she fell into the roadside ditch,” said Capt Pramarn.

In the early morning hour when the accident took place there were no other vehicles in the immediate vicinity, he said.

At the time, there were not many vehicles on the road, and in the stretch of the road where the accident took place there were just Nikom’s pickup, the school van and the motorbike.

Police will wait until all of the survivors in the van are well enough to be interviewed before concluding their investigation and moving ahead with any further charges.

Mr Nikom has already been charged with reckless driving resulting in death, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of 20,000 baht, or both.

In Thailand, police typically file charges against any driver involved in an accident, and then drop the charges if subsequent investigation finds they were not at fault.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-06-24