7 Dead, 12 Injured In Ayutthaya Province Pick-Up Crash

[webfact]

Myanmar migrants killed in Thai road accident

Bangkok, March 28, 2012 (AFP) - At least seven people including six Myanmar illegal migrant workers were killed in Thailand Wednesday after their pickup plunged into a canal trying to avoid a police checkpoint, police said.

The accident occurred in Ban Phreak district of Ayutthaya province, around 75 kilometres (50 miles) north of Bangkok.

Two men, including the Thai driver, and five women were killed and 12 other people injured as the driver attempted to avoid a checkpoint by diverting onto a secondary road, police said.

"The driver lost control on a sharp curve and the car plunged into an irrigation canal," Colonel Patcharakorn Chanwongsa, superintendent of Ban Phreak police station, told AFP.

"One of 12 injured is in critical condition," he said.

Patcharakorn said police knew they were Myanmar illegal migrants after survivors told them.

There are around two million Myanmar migrants in Thailand, legal and illegal, many of whom fled ethnic conflict zones in their homeland.

Thailand's economy relies on migrant workers from its poorer neighbours Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2012-03-28

[thequietman]

when I first read this, I thought it was another police checkpoint put just after or on a corner. the number of times I have come around a blind corner on a dual carriageway or standard road to have a checkpoint positioned there is staggering. it is very difficult to get stopped on time and in some cases I have had to drive thru and then break hard afterwards incase they shoot at me. is this another of these check points or was the driver really trying to vere off into a side road due to illegal workers.? as a rule the police get paid off to ignore migrant workers. may be they didnt get paid and got a tip off, hence the road block.

[KKvampire]

travelling in the back of pick ups the thai way of travelling .

[Scott]

My condolences to the families of the victims. Very sad.

[webfact]

7 killed, including 6 illegal Myanmar migrants, in Ayutthaya highway accident

AYUTTHAYA, March 28 - Seven people were killed and 12 others injured today when a pickup truck carrying illegal Myanmar migrant workers veered off the road and plunged into a roadside irrigation canal in Ayutthaya, 65km north of Bangkok, according to local police.

The accident in Ban Phraek district left five women and two men dead, including the driver, Suwicharn Boonmen from Sukhothai, as well as injuring 12 other migrant workers sitting in the open back of the vehicle, Ban Phraek police said. Rescue workers spent two hours retrieving the Sukhothai-registered vehicle from the four-metre-deep canal.

Most of the victims were identified as Myanmar migrant workers

The preliminary investigation found that the vehicle carried the workers from Mae Sot, in the Thai-Myanmar border province of Tak, and was heading to the central province of Lop Buri via the Asian Highway.

When reaching Ang Thong province, the driver saw a police checkpoint and tried to avoid a search and sped away using a Ban Phraek district road as a shortcut.

Police said the driver might not have been familiar with the route which was a quite narrow road. As a result, he lost control, and went off the road into the canal. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-03-28

[Gone]

Yes it is VERY sad but I must ad that it is just another case of an uneducated Thai driver who should have never been in charge of transporting people.

These accidents are becoming a daily occurance and the government or hiway police are still doing nothing to control it.

It doesn't matter where they are from it is just sad. RIP

[Pib]

What a shame. Here in Bangkok I see pickup trucks with people packed/overflowing in the truck bed all the time....usually day laborers...speeding down the highway to the next job at 80-100Km/H.

[trainman34014]

RIP the sad victims of yet another senseless 'accident'. Chances are, if the driver had stopped at the checkpoint and paid a few bucks in Tea Money these poor soul's would still be alive.

[firestar]

I must ad that it is just another case of an uneducated Thai driver who should have never been in charge of transporting people.

These accidents are becoming a daily occurance and the government or hiway police are still doing nothing to control it.

Hardly a case of "just another uneducated Thai driver" when he is carrying illegal immigrants and fleeing from the police.

Condolences to the families, tragic way to die.

Edited March 28, 2012 by firestar

[Gone]

I must ad that it is just another case of an uneducated Thai driver who should have never been in charge of transporting people.

These accidents are becoming a daily occurance and the government or hiway police are still doing nothing to control it.

Hardly a case of "just another uneducated Thai driver" when he is carrying illegal immigrants and fleeing from the police.

Condolences to the families, tragic way to die.

Yes it is. If he had any type of education for driving passangers or even basic education he would have stopped at the stop-check.

[ginjag]

Education and avoiding paying are 2 different things, as we know in Thai government. Thai thinking==lesser mortals, never mind, this man wanted to avoid being caught/and or paying, the police wanted to get-to be paid. CAT and MOUSE, sod the migrants. Usual sorry state of affairs. Greed again, migrants--sleep rough,on site,treated badly -or else go back home, poor pay. and end up like cattle to the slaughter. Sorry for the deaths, and especially the migrants who want to scrape money for mother.

[hkt83100]

So there were at least 2 + 5 + 12 = 19 people on one pickup truck. This definitely is calling for a disaster. Condolences to the families.

[pisico]

Education and avoiding paying are 2 different things, as we know in Thai government. Thai thinking==lesser mortals, never mind, this man wanted to avoid being caught/and or paying, the police wanted to get-to be paid. CAT and MOUSE, sod the migrants. Usual sorry state of affairs. Greed again, migrants--sleep rough,on site,treated badly -or else go back home, poor pay. and end up like cattle to the slaughter. Sorry for the deaths, and especially the migrants who want to scrape money for mother.

Plus one.

[jimbeam1]

So there were at least 2 + 5 + 12 = 19 people on one pickup truck. This definitely is calling for a disaster. Condolences to the families.

Spot on. That is exactly what I was thinking. It doesn't mention what kind of pick up it was though?

jb1

[CHANGOVER]

So there were at least 2 + 5 + 12 = 19 people on one pickup truck. This definitely is calling for a disaster. Condolences to the families.

Spot on. That is exactly what I was thinking. It doesn't mention what kind of pick up it was though?

jb1

Mitsu, Toyota, Mazda - what difference - these people are DEAD and injured!

[jucel]

I'm surprised people still comment on this ongoing issue. With the way people drive over here, I'm flabbergasted there are so few serious accidents!

Give up wasting your time posting about how to improve the roads etc because Thai people just don't care. Death on the roads over here is the norm

[OccamsRazor]

I must ad that it is just another case of an uneducated Thai driver who should have never been in charge of transporting people.

These accidents are becoming a daily occurance and the government or hiway police are still doing nothing to control it.

Hardly a case of "just another uneducated Thai driver" when he is carrying illegal immigrants and fleeing from the police.

Condolences to the families, tragic way to die.

Yes it is. If he had any type of education for driving passangers or even basic education he would have stopped at the stop-check.

So with that thinking no college educated people driving passengers ever do anything illegal when driving? Believe I recall reading about some Thaivisa members jumping through check points or attempting to avoid them.

[silverhawk_usa]

So there were at least 2 + 5 + 12 = 19 people on one pickup truck. This definitely is calling for a disaster. Condolences to the families.

Spot on. That is exactly what I was thinking. It doesn't mention what kind of pick up it was though?

jb1

The "other" newspaper shows photos of the Toyota Hilux 4 door. It appears fairly new and in good condition (prior to the accident). It also says "all 7 people" in the cab died. The damage doesn't really appear to be that great, but when it is overloaded like that, I guess a tragedy can be expected.

[Peterphuket]

So there were at least 2 + 5 + 12 = 19 people on one pickup truck. This definitely is calling for a disaster. Condolences to the families.

Spot on. That is exactly what I was thinking. It doesn't mention what kind of pick up it was though?

jb1

RIP for the dead people, but about the pick-up, it good be worser, in the surrounding I living, often I see a pick-up with a trailer connected, so at least 25 constructionworkers together. Its unbelievable but true.

[Nip]

I'm surprised people still comment on this ongoing issue. With the way people drive over here, I'm flabbergasted there are so few serious accidents!

Give up wasting your time posting about how to improve the roads etc because Thai people just don't care. Death on the roads over here is the norm

Last week I spent an hour bemused at a regional Thai driving test center and have an appreciation of perhaps the main reason why there are so many accidents on Thai roads. I have already posted how a man I know managed to get a full driving license for his Thai girl friend. He rented an automatic Altis for 3 days, ran her around a hotel car park for two days and on the third she passed her test in Phuket town. At the test center I watched up to 20 Thai men and women attempting to stop on a white line, drive between vertical poles and reverse into a box. It would have been comical if not so serious. Not one managed to carry out these 3 most basic tests yet all bar 1 were granted driving licenses. The one who failed reversed into a ditch... I also sat in on the video they must view before being granted the licenses. If its intention was to warn about road safety it failed most were asleep the rest were texting on their phones. I expected to see a horror movie of poor driving and crash scenes but what I saw was a nice little tale of Mr Good and Mr Bad driver.

[peecee]

I'm surprised people still comment on this ongoing issue. With the way people drive over here, I'm flabbergasted there are so few serious accidents!

Give up wasting your time posting about how to improve the roads etc because Thai people just don't care. Death on the roads over here is the norm

It was so written. Thai logic!

[rene123]

I counted 21 people in the little songthow (red bus) that took us from the bus station to the Burma border at Mae Sai. Any kind of accident would had provided lots of news for the media. As a tourist you just have to shake your head at what you see on a daily basis. But, this is their country and until people want to pay for the changes needed it's not going to change.

[Thai at Heart]

I counted 21 people in the little songthow (red bus) that took us from the bus station to the Burma border at Mae Sai. Any kind of accident would had provided lots of news for the media. As a tourist you just have to shake your head at what you see on a daily basis. But, this is their country and until people want to pay for the changes needed it's not going to change.

Rene, it just takes one guy with a whistle to say, too many