Tourist Bus Overturns On Chalong-Kata Hill, One Dead, Many Hurt

[starkey_rich]

My wife just watched a Thai TV report that the bus (40 seater, so not a mini bus) was going downhill towards Chalong and the brakes failed causing it to go through the barrier on the other side of the road, break the electric pole. Now that makes much much more sense to me.

edit// new reports from local sources confirm the crashed bus with the passengers was going eastbound to Chalong and the bigger bus was empty going westbound to Karon with no passenger. That bus was told not to continue as the road was blocked with the crash but he continued on over to the other side of the road to avoid the downed live power line and snagged the line causing damage to the bus and leaving it stranded on the wrong side of the road. Ok, now that all makes sense to what I saw on the road. Case closed for me.

It's amazing how many trucks and bus brake failure's there are on this Island (Oh sorry AMAZING was last year.Should have said it's a MIRACLE)

[starkey_rich]

A bus of any kind can snap a power pole just by slowly rolling into it, so it is possible. And that barrier is by no stretch of the imagination "heavy duty". It has been breached and re-built half assedly many times on that corner. I would say we get a car/truck/bus over that rail once or twice a year. I would never stay in one of those bungalows just below the road there.

So you are saying a 12 seater bus could snap a concrete pole by rolling into it?

[TechnikaIII]

"Why you worry?" Was the response from my girlfriend, earlier this year, when I told her that a van had collided at high speed, disintegrated, sending body parts everywhere. "..Not your van!" she added. This was when I had used them a few times on the route to Bkk, and had experienced the pod-racing* madness. (Both my use of the vans to Bkk, and the relationship with that vacuous female, as much as I loved her, have been terminated.)

However, to the subject of safety standards: The better they are, providing they are adhered to and respected everywhere, the more expensive will be the products and services supplied. Competition is fierce, and is market driven. Together with the travel agents, the tourists who want cheap, are therefor just as responsible for the overall picture as are the tour operators, the lack of credible law enforcement, and the poor bastard bus drivers who are pressured to work the hours they do.

Besides, a significant proportion of the Thai population put more faith in superstition than regulations. You must surely be aware of this by now. Another thought: Has the cost of living got anything to do with why you are in Thailand?

Good luck.

By the way, road accidents also happen in Europe, the Americas and Australia.

* "pod-racing" .. from the original Star Wars movie.

Edited October 22, 2011 by TechnikaIII

[siamjimi]

It says at the "place that cannot be named", that the big bus disobeyed police instructions and tried to pass the accident scene, then, broke down.

Sounds implausible, too.

Yes, and have a close look at that 2nd photo of the rear left side of the bus. Something must have been on fire there about the rear wheels. Very strange.

edit// fast moving story. new PG article explains that flash burn. But why the hell was that bus on the wrong side of the road just at a high speed bend in the road. Very dangerous.

Any simpleton can plainly see that there is a major possibility that the scorched bus was caused by the downed power-lines - if this is the case - the operator should be dismissed.

[GrantPhuket]

VDO from NBT TV Phuket at scene of accident afterwards & in victims hospital

http://blip.tv/grantphuket/bus-accident-chalong-kata-hill-victims-at-hospital-5666275

[biplanebluey]

It says at the "place that cannot be named", that the big bus disobeyed police instructions and tried to pass the accident scene, then, broke down.

Sounds implausible, too.

Yes, and have a close look at that 2nd photo of the rear left side of the bus. Something must have been on fire there about the rear wheels. Very strange.

edit// fast moving story. new PG article explains that flash burn. But why the hell was that bus on the wrong side of the road just at a high speed bend in the road. Very dangerous.

pretty obvios to me the bus was on the wrong side of the road in order to miss the rubbish caused by the first bus going over the side-------and who said it was going fast---------apart from you

[biplanebluey]

when these guys go around corners, they cut halfway into the other lane to make the turn 'easier' and shorten the trip...

dude snapped a telephone poll and broke through the barrier... going around a corner...christ, how fast was he going?

He did not cut any corner, he fell off the road on his side of the bend. How fast could he be going up a steep hill in a bus. It was the weight of the bus rolling onto the post that caused it to break. Please get your facts straight before you make these sort of accusations.

Let me try to get this right------ We have a Tour Bus going up a

''steep hill''-------So he can't be doing any great speed------ He hits a concrete pole,------ He then breaks through a steel barrier which is [normaly] concreted into the road.-------How fast i wonder does one have to be going to do all those slowing down tactics and still end up over the edge ??

[biplanebluey]

My wife just watched a Thai TV report that the bus (40 seater, so not a mini bus) was going downhill towards Chalong and the brakes failed causing it to go through the barrier on the other side of the road, break the electric pole. Now that makes much much more sense to me.

edit// new reports from local sources confirm the crashed bus with the passengers was going eastbound to Chalong and the bigger bus was empty going westbound to Karon with no passenger. That bus was told not to continue as the road was blocked with the crash but he continued on over to the other side of the road to avoid the downed live power line and snagged the line causing damage to the bus and leaving it stranded on the wrong side of the road. Ok, now that all makes sense to what I saw on the road. Case closed for me.

Thank you----at last a sensible report

[Tywais]

edit// fast moving story. new PG article explains that flash burn. But why the hell was that bus on the wrong side of the road just at a high speed bend in the road. Very dangerous.

pretty obvios to me the bus was on the wrong side of the road in order to miss the rubbish caused by the first bus going over the side-------and who said it was going fast---------apart from you

He didn't say the bus was moving fast. Reread his post - 'fast moving story' 'high speed bend' Also the explanation in post #28.

BTW - I removed your post commenting on a member's grammar/posting error as off topic and against forum netiquette.

[KOZMO]

Wonder if the bus driver was with the bus?

[stevenl]

Wonder if the bus driver was with the bus?

According to the reposrt he was wounded and taken to the hospital, so yes, I would presume he was with the bus.

[ScubaBuddha]

A bus of any kind can snap a power pole just by slowly rolling into it, so it is possible. And that barrier is by no stretch of the imagination "heavy duty". It has been breached and re-built half assedly many times on that corner. I would say we get a car/truck/bus over that rail once or twice a year. I would never stay in one of those bungalows just below the road there.

So you are saying a 12 seater bus could snap a concrete pole by rolling into it?

That's not a bus. That's a minibus.

[LivinginKata]

So you are saying a 12 seater bus could snap a concrete pole by rolling into it?

That's not a bus. That's a minibus.

And in this accident it was a 40 seater, so that's a full sized bus.