Mother of gap-year teenager who died with two friends in Thai highway coach crash calls on Foreign Office to give better warnings on country's dangerous roads

• Max Boomgaarden-Cook was killed with Bruno Melling-Firth and Conrad Quashie when their coach swung into the path of an oncoming bus
  
• Coroner said he would write to Foreign Office to ask it publishes same extensive warnings about bus travel as it does about motorbike travel
  

By ANTHONY BOND

Tragic: Bruno Melling-Firth, left, Max Boomgaarden-Cook, centre, and Conrad Quashie, right, were killed in a coach crash in Thailand. Their parents want the Foreign Office to issue more warnings about bus travel in the country

The parents of three teenagers killed in a horrific coach crash during their gap year in Thailand have called for the Foreign Office to issue more warnings about the dangers of bus travel in the country.

Bruno Melling-Firth, Conrad Quashie and Max Boomgaarden-Cook were on a coach bound for the northern town of Chiang Mai when it pulled across a six-lane highway into the path of an oncoming bus in the early hours of June 28, 2011.

The students, all 19 and from south London, were just days into a nine-week trip, along with a fourth friend who escaped the accident with minor injuries.

They were on a coach on their way from Bangkok to Chiang Mai when the crash happened in Khlong Khlung, in the Kamphaeng Phet Province, shortly after midnight.

An inquest at Southwark Coroner's Court yesterday heard the boys had not carried out a great deal of research into bus travel in the country, and their parents told the court they had no idea of the dangers.

Full story: http://www.dailymail...el-country.html

-- Mail Online 2012-05-25

related topic:

London gap year students killed in Thailand coach crash

rip

Investment for safety measurements doesn't interest the Thai government beans...

There is nothing dangerous about the roads in Thailand. It's the drivers that couse the accidents.

I think its a little misleading to say that they had not researched bus travel in Thailand - implying that if they had, they might have found what? That its used by huge numbers of peopleto travel quite safely all over the country every day... yes bus crashes do from time to time happen, but to imply or attempt to characterise it as inherently unsafe to the extent of issuing an official warning, is going too far.

I know people who use busses to travel in the country on a regular basis, and as long as you use a decent bus line (that should be the main concern), then they are perfectly OK, and no worse than bus lines anywhere in the world.

Motorbike travel IS inherently unsafe on the roads in Asia (in my opinion almost anywhere in fact), so a warning about that mode of transport is certainly fair.

How about a generic warning that life is filled with danger and death is inevitable?

related topic:

London gap year students killed in Thailand coach crash

Full story: http://www.thaivisa....h/#entry4524245

It's not like roads in South London are all that safe anyway...

How about a generic warning that life is filled with danger and death is inevitable?

Would you say that in an open forum if it was your child who had been killed in a road accident?

The answer is to replace all buses here with MB Travego's.

How about a generic warning that life is filled with danger and death is inevitable?

Would you say that in an open forum if it was your child who had been killed in a road accident?

Stuff happens in life and while it may feel good to blame others or start causes to assuage the pain of personal loss, in the end it will not alter the inevitable outcome of life. Risk is present in all that we do.

How about a generic warning that life is filled with danger and death is inevitable?

Would you say that in an open forum if it was your child who had been killed in a road accident?

Stuff happens in life and while it may feel good to blame others or start causes to assuage the pain of personal loss, in the end it will not alter the inevitable outcome of life. Risk is present in all that we do.

Yes it is present in everything we do, however all this woman wants to happen is that the risks are highlighted so more people are aware that using a bus in Thailand is statistically more dangerous than using a bus in the UK, due to long hours, lax enforcement of laws and regulations, poor safety standards, and a driving test that is far less strict than it should be, in fact does one need the equivalent of a PSV licence to drive passengers in Thailand?

People might come here expecting some level of professionalism from a 'professional' (as in drives for a living rather than based on ability) driver when that is in reality missing, so it is only fair that when people are here they can expect much lower standards than in the UK rather than just 'different' standards.

If a warning saves lives and makes sure people are aware of dangers then its all good, maybe they will learn if the driver is a reckless bell whiff then they should get off the bus and make other arrangements rather than keep playing the lottery they are playing on that journey, it might make people do simple internet searches to find reputable companies that obey the laws and use them to reduce the risk of being killed or maimed because of some poor or reckless driving.

How about a generic warning that life is filled with danger and death is inevitable?

Would you say that in an open forum if it was your child who had been killed in a road accident?

Stuff happens in life and while it may feel good to blame others or start causes to assuage the pain of personal loss, in the end it will not alter the inevitable outcome of life. Risk is present in all that we do.

I agree with your follow up comment, but your orginal post, in my opinion, was not necessary. Let's just leave it at that...

Calling on gap year students or tourists in general to actually read the warnings is a better idea.

There is no doubt that many of the bus drivers are loaded with drugs and drive dangerously. Especially the long haul night drivers. I frequently drive long haul throughout Thailand and wonder why there aren't more accidents.

That is the problem, not the roads.

How about a generic warning that life is filled with danger and death is inevitable?

Would you say that in an open forum if it was your child who had been killed in a road accident?

How about a generic warning that life is filled with danger and death is inevitable?

Would you say that in an open forum if it was your child who had been killed in a road accident?

Nahhhhh, Villagefarang wouldn't say that cos he is one of those weird people who would never follow his own rules but likes to sprout on about total nonsense.

Inflammatory and insensitive posts have been removed as well as the associated replies.

Edited May 25, 201214 yr by metisdead

There is nothing dangerous about the roads in Thailand. It's the drivers that couse the accidents.

Very good post.

Edited May 25, 201214 yr by AverageFarang

How about a generic warning that life is filled with danger and death is inevitable?

What a creep you are.

How about a generic warning that life is filled with danger and death is inevitable?

What a creep you are.

To be fair his comment is factually accurate and makes a good point.

It's a great shame that these three children met such an unfortunate end, but let's face it another 100 people the world over have died in road traffic accidents in the time it's taken me to write this post... it's a fact of life.

What manner of FO warning will prevent such accidents from happening?

Western society does it's best to protect us from the realities of life but there are a million ways to die in this world - we can all be sure of one thing and that is we will all die at some point, the likelihood being that we will have little or no control of how or when. The sad irony is that people coming from less Nanny oriented states actually seem to be better prepared to deal with such tragic situations, accepting their loss as part and parcel of life.

The fact is that with a 5 minute google you could read about plenty of such accidents in Thailand and consider yourself forewarned about the dangers of Thai roads. This begs the question that, knowing the dangers, do you then deny your children the opportunity of travelling to Thailand and other such countries because there is an increased chance that they might suffer an accident?

I'd hazard a guess that had the parents been aware of the dangers of Thai roads, and personally I think most people are only too aware that safety standards in developing countries aren't up to Western standards in every aspect not just road safety, the children would still have been allowed to travel to Thailand. You can't live life in a box, scared to do anything because something might happen to you, if you do you're not living.

All a parent can do is prepare their children as best they can for life's unfortunate realities and arm them with the tools to best deal with what faces them in the big, bad world. I'm afraid what actually happens is a gamble as is life, you can only teach your children the game, let them play the cards as best they can and hope for the best.

It's a real shame and my heart goes out to their families but clearly this isn't a healthy path to accepting their loss and starting the grieving process; I'm afraid there is no-one to blame here, no-one is at fault. It's just a sad accident and should be treated as such.

Trying to teach Thais safety is like speaking to a block of cement. Thais do not teach their young people safety as they grow up. I see Thais doing many many unsafe things everyday. Just stand and observe the traffic that flows by. As mentioned, nothing will ever be done to reduce the unsafe driving practices or any other unsafe practice in Thailand. Nobody wants to see their kids end up like that. RIP.

How about a generic warning that life is filled with danger and death is inevitable?

What a creep you are.

To be fair his comment is factually accurate and makes a good point.

It's a great shame that these three children met such an unfortunate end, but let's face it another 100 people the world over have died in road traffic accidents in the time it's taken me to write this post... it's a fact of life.

What manner of FO warning will prevent such accidents from happening?

Western society does it's best to protect us from the realities of life but there are a million ways to die in this world - we can all be sure of one thing and that is we will all die at some point, the likelihood being that we will have little or no control of how or when. The sad irony is that people coming from less Nanny oriented states actually seem to be better prepared to deal with such tragic situations, accepting their loss as part and parcel of life.

The fact is that with a 5 minute google you could read about plenty of such accidents in Thailand and consider yourself forewarned about the dangers of Thai roads. This begs the question that, knowing the dangers, do you then deny your children the opportunity of travelling to Thailand and other such countries because there is an increased chance that they might suffer an accident?

I'd hazard a guess that had the parents been aware of the dangers of Thai roads, and personally I think most people are only too aware that safety standards in developing countries aren't up to Western standards in every aspect not just road safety, the children would still have been allowed to travel to Thailand. You can't live life in a box, scared to do anything because something might happen to you, if you do you're not living.

All a parent can do is prepare their children as best they can for life's unfortunate realities and arm them with the tools to best deal with what faces them in the big, bad world. I'm afraid what actually happens is a gamble as is life, you can only teach your children the game, let them play the cards as best they can and hope for the best.

It's a real shame and my heart goes out to their families but clearly this isn't a healthy path to accepting their loss and starting the grieving process; I'm afraid there is no-one to blame here, no-one is at fault. It's just a sad accident and should be treated as such.

They won't prevent it, but at least the parents might be aware of the dangers and ask their kids to take the plane. As I've read in one article on this case, one mother was saying that, had she known about the (high) risk, she would have advised her kid to book a flight instead.

That's the difference.

My in-laws (Thai) know full well the dangers of traveling 12 hours on the road and most of the time we book a flight for anything that would take that long or that might put us in harms way (on Thai roads).

For those who say nothing will ever change in Thailand, I disagree. I have seen a lot of changes over the years and I have confidence change will continue. It doesn’t happen overnight, not here, not anywhere.

Think of all the things we did or ate as children that society now considers reckless and unacceptable. It took generations to turn us into the weak dependent citizen we are today. Thailand will end up in the same boat but it may take a little longer. They are a developing country after all.

Hmmmm so one argument I see is that they wanted to see the countryside on a night bus. I mean yeah you see the Chiang Mai ring road at 5am. Well worth it. I'm guessing that very few posters if any have taken a bus to Chiang Mai, having lived there I have taken many. Nothing is risk free, deal with it. Another argument is that if there had been some warning (like sone of the joke Government warnings) then there parents could have paid for flights, yes they could. Through every city in SE Asai. People die every day, seriously. Get real. What about the Thai people who died on that bus?? They were in Thailand.

Like I said it's sad that anyone dies but guess what, they do. All the time. Suck it up.

It would be blackly amusing to be a fly on the wall in the case of some of our more "realistic" members who, on a visit to the doctor, heard

"Ah yes, we've got your test results back. Unfortunately you've got colon cancer which has metastized to your liver and lungs. Ah well, Suck it up, shit happens and death is inevitable as they say. Cup of tea?"

Edited May 25, 201214 yr by mca

Awful analogy. However, being much, much closer to the age of the backpackers than to you that is highly unlikely to happen to me anytime soon. However if it did then I will have hopefully lived a decent life and will be ready to go. Nobody lives forever, you are aware of this I hope.

They were off to Laos and Cambodia. The roads there are much.much worse. More deaths in Thailand because there are more people. Should every country who's roads are not up to British standards have a warning? Where does one stop? I am intrigued.

Why doesn't everybody just drop it. The parents are devastated, they are lost, they blame themselves and will do for the rest of their days, they are angry, they lost their children. The woman who made the statement about the FCO does not know what else to do, she feels helpless and misses the sight or sound or smell of her child everyday, she is just saying anything in a bid to prevent just one more mother, one more father from experiencing the total devastation that has engulfed her and the other parents of the boys. I feel very sorry for some of you, as the comments you have made show that you have almost zero compassion and it is compassion that makes us Human and is supposed to make us one of the noblest of beasts. This is not a thread for banter or bickering, it is a sad thread and a reminder to all of us with children of any age that they can be plucked away from us in a heart beat, and that we cannot legislate for everything. To the parents concerned, I feel your loss, I really do.

Awful analogy. However, being much, much closer to the age of the backpackers than to you that is highly unlikely to happen to me anytime soon. However if it did then I will have hopefully lived a decent life and will be ready to go. Nobody lives forever, you are aware of this I hope.

.

"Thanks Doc. I'm ready to go. Nobody lives forever." Yeah riiiight

Edited May 25, 201214 yr by mca

Call me a cynic if you will but when personal loss is taken public with campaigns started and one actively seeks to be in the public spotlight then it steps out of the realm of touchy-feely and becomes a legitimate subject of debate. “How insensitive”, no longer carries much weight when you are discussing the validity of such causes or the extent to which the government can be held responsible for protecting us from ourselves.

does switzzerland rate increased warnings as well?

28 killed in horror school coach crash | The Sun |News

Edited May 25, 201214 yr by tinfoilhat