Korean Tourist In Phuket ICU After Tour Van Slams Into Tree

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Korean tourist in Phuket ICU after tour van slams into tree

Phuket rescue workers arrive at the scene, just south of the Thepkrasattri Bridge.

Photo: Wichai Wittawat

Phuket emergency workers reset van driver Anuchart Lertsiriwongsakul's leg before

removing him from the wreck. Photo: Wichai Wittawat

PHUKET: -- One Korean tourist remains in intensive care and another in general recovery in hospital after the tour van they were traveling in left the road and slammed into a tree in northern Phuket on Saturday.

The tourists were returning to Phuket after a day trip to Phang Nga.

Lt Col Prakob Boonkwan of the Tah Chat Chai Police reported that the accident happened in between the Thepkrasattri Bridge and the Tah Chat Chai police checkpoint just before 3pm.

An emergency-response team from the Kusoltham Rescue Foundation took 30 minutes using a ‘jaws of life’ metal cutter to free two tourists trapped in the mangled van.

Once freed from the wreck, they were rushed with the other injured tourist and the injured driver to Bangkok Hospital Phuket in Phuket Town.

“Mr Don Sik Uyoo, 35, is still in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Mrs Sun Hee Kim, 53, has a broken left wrist and a wound on her head. She is fine now, but she has not been discharged from the hospital,” a staffer at Bangkok Hospital Phuket told the Phuket Gazette today.

“Mr Sang Moon Lee, 63, required some stitches for wounds on his face, but has been released from the hospital.

“The Thai driver of the van, Anuchart Lertsiriwongsakul, has been transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital,” the officer added.

A medical officer at Vachira Phuket told the Gazette, “He has broken his femur [thigh bone] in several places. He has already undergone one surgery. We have postponed his next operation to October 26 [Wednesday] because of how badly his leg has swollen.”

Lt Col Prakob said the Korean tourists were staying at a hotel at the Laguna Phuket resort complex and were returning from Phang Nga.

Although he said it was still too early to determine the precise cause of the crash, Lt Col Prakob said he believed the driver’s unfamiliarity with that section of the road and the speed of the van were major factors in the accident.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/news/detail.asp?id=11276

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-10-24

[TAWP]

High speed, poor driver, no seat-belts and a big tree.

[ScubaBuddha]

...speed of the van....

A tourist van not driving insanely fast is a rarity.

[zakk9]

Please repeat after me:

Never take a van of any kind in Thailand unless you know the driver personally.

Should be rather easy to learn, shouldn't it? Judging from the wrecks along the roads in this country, only a fraction of the van accidents ever reach the news. Those devices were never designed to be driven at 140 kph by a drunk and/or drugged maniac who hasn't see proper sleep for the last 48 hours. And no, Red Bull, M Roy etc. do not turn people into supermen. If the driver drinks it, it's because he should have been in bed. Time to get off if you ask me.

[Credo]

Please repeat after me:

Never take a van of any kind in Thailand unless you know the driver personally.

I know some van drivers personally and I wouldn't ride with them either.

I hope everyone makes a full recovery.

[keestha]

After intensively using the roads in Phuket and Phangnga for 12 years, I can only confirm: Yes always the same, tourist vans and tourbusses driving much too fast. Long ago I developed a habit of allowing them to overtake me as soon as possible, slowing down for them. I wish everybody a speedy recovery.

[LivinginKata]

After intensively using the roads in Phuket and Phangnga for 12 years, I can only confirm: Yes always the same, tourist vans and tourbusses driving much too fast. Long ago I developed a habit of allowing them to overtake me as soon as possible, slowing down for them. I wish everybody a speedy recovery.

Yep, I got to agree with that. Indeed I extend that advice when any aggressive driver approaches very fast and is looking to get by. Just make it easy for them to pass and let them have an accident with someone else.

[mysterybkk]

i was involved in a crash in one of those death traps on my way to school in august. the van's brakes failed on bangna trat as we were approaching the toll booth and it plowed into another car which was paying going at least 120. no seat belts available. i was hospitalized with a broken spine..... yay for thai vans.

[thaiIand]

Im almost certain that the way those vans are made is unsafe even for a professional driver.. looks like it could tip over with no effort.

Also how do you get from highspeed on the right lane to trees in the left lane? oh ya.. cutting traffic from the left. I have a huge smile from seeing that picture with the driver suffering. dont <deleted> cut people from the left motorbike lane.

Hope those tourist get better and find a way to sue the company and the driver.

[ScubaBuddha]

i was involved in a crash in one of those death traps on my way to school in august. the van's brakes failed on bangna trat as we were approaching the toll booth and it plowed into another car which was paying going at least 120. no seat belts available. i was hospitalized with a broken spine..... yay for thai vans.

They are deathtraps. I once had to yell up to the drive "Cha cha!" after the third time he nearly rear ended someone. He was pounding RedBulls but kept falling asleep anyway.

One of my dive instructor mates lost a leg in a visa run on one of these minibuses. I avoid best I can, but sometimes you still end up on one even after buying a VIP aircon bus ticket! There is usually no seatbelts in them. If there is, my Thai Gf always laughs at me when I put it on. In a bus full if Thai's I am always the only one wearing it. Gave up long ago trying to convince gf to wear it. "You don't need to wear. Police not check."

Edited October 24, 2011 by ScubaBuddha