Several Russian tourists injured in bus crash in Thailand

[webfact]

Several Russian tourists injured in bus crash in Thailand

KANCHANABURI: -- A bus carrying 42 Russian tourists overturned in the Kanchanaburi province in northwest Thailand at around noon local time (9:00 Moscow Time, 05:00 GMT). Andrei Dvornikov, head of the consular department of the Russian embassy in Thailand, confirmed the report.

"Consular officials are verifying the circumstances of the accident. So far, we only know that there several people were injured and that some of them have been taken to a hospital, probably the Kanchanaburi Memorial Hospital.

The bus was carrying Russian tourists from Pattaya on a tour to the Kwai River," the diplomat said.
He added that the consulate would do everything possible to help the injured and keep their relatives informed about their treatment.

Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_11/Several-Russian-tourists-injured-in-bus-crash-in-Thailand-4173/

-- THE VOICE OF RUSSIA 2013-10-11

[webfact]

No one was seriously injured in bus crash with Russian tourists onboard in Thailand - tour operator head

KANCHANABURI: -- No one was seriously injured after a bus with 42 Russian tourists overturned in the Kanchanaburi province in northwestern Thailand, Anna Podgornaya, General Director of the Pegas Touristic tour operator told reporters on Friday.

The accident involving a Pegas Touristic bus occurred at around noon local time (9:00 am Moscow Time).

"According to the preliminary information, there are no fatalities. No one was seriously hurt. Several people sustained minor injuries," she said without specifying how many people had been injured.

Russia’s Federal Travel Agency Rosturism is clarifying the circumstances of the accident, the RIA Novosti news agency quotes Rosturism spokesman Irina Shchegolkova as saying.

Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_11/No-one-was-seriously-injured-in-bus-crash-with-Russian-tourists-onboard-in-Thailand-tour-operator-head-7394/

-- THE VOICE OF RUSSIA 2013-10-11

[webfact]

Russia to send emergency plane to Thailand to evacuate tourists injured in bus accident

MOSCOW: -- Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry is ready to send a plane to Thailand to bring back Russian tourists who were injured in a bus accident, the ministry’s official spokesperson Irina Rossius said on Friday.

"An emergency plane is ready to take off for Thailand to evacuate the Russian tourists for subsequent medical treatment in Russia," she said.

A bus carrying 42 Russian tourists overturned in northwest Thailand around noon local time on Friday. Several people were injured, according to preliminary reports.

Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_11/Russia-to-send-emergency-plane-to-Thailand-to-evacuate-tourists-injured-in-bus-accident-5069/

-- THE VOICE OF RUSSIA 2013-10-11

[ratcatcher]

Best wishes to the injured in this rare incident.

[Thait Spot]

Best wishes to the injured in this rare incident.

Indeed. Only 29,000 dead in road accidents per year

[monkeycountry]

Pegas again No wonder the way they "run" that company.

[soi41]

Best wishes to the injured in this rare incident.

Indeed. Only 29,000 dead in road accidents per year

Please provide a link to the barstool, who gave you those numbers!!

[unanimosity]

Best wishes to the injured in this rare incident.

By rare do you mean the first time that specific bus with that specific driver and those specific passengers crashed at that specific location at that specific time?

[galoubet]

Quote: "Consular officials are verifying the circumstances of the accident. So far, we only know that there several people were injured and that some of them have been taken to a hospital, probably the Kanchanaburi Memorial Hospital."

Quote: "The accident involving a Pegas Touristic bus occurred at around noon local time (9:00 am Moscow Time)."

I'm surprised if they were taken to Kan Memorial Hospital. It's a tiny hospital and doesn't have very good facilities, especially A&E. I went there with an ankle injury a few years ago and found the hospital to be like a UK one back in the 1950s. It was grubby with poor service.

I see Pegas buses a lot, often parked up by a restaurant on the Sai Yok road just past the Kaengsian bridge.

Edited October 11, 2013 by galoubet

[chatette]

Three people die every hour, making Thailand's roads second-most deadly in the world, according to WHO.

See stats here http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.A997

and here http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2013/country_profiles/thailand.pdf

[Tatsujin]

Best wishes to the injured in this rare incident.

Indeed. Only 29,000 dead in road accidents per year

Please provide a link to the barstool, who gave you those numbers!!

Sorry, no barstool, but is the Nation good enough for you?

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Road-death-toll-in-Thailand-among-highest-in-the-w-30202066.html

26,000 road deaths in Thailand, #6 in the world for road deaths, 70-80% of those deaths are either motorcyclists or their passengers.

[Suradit69]

Best wishes to the injured in this rare incident.

Indeed. Only 29,000 dead in road accidents per year

Please provide a link to the barstool, who gave you those numbers!!

According to the FCO it's about 1/3 of the TV Barstool statistics. Not great, but apparently on a par with Australia and Spain. Of course, it's always possible the FCO are playing fast and easy with the statistics, but it's hard to imagine their statistics are anywhere near as unreliable as the Thai Visa Thai Bashers Addled Imagination Index (TVTBAII)

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is pushing a road safety campaign to alert tourists and expat residents overseas about dangerous drivers and road conditions in several countries.

The move comes as a response to reports of a high number of Britons in popular holiday and expat destinations being killed or injured in road accidents. The countries considered the most dangerous have been identified as Australia, Thailand and Spain, all of which have road accident and fatality number far higher than those in the UK.

According to the FCO, traffic laws, road and vehicle conditions and, particularly, local driving habits can make driving overseas very different from conditions in the home country. For example, Thailand, permanent home to 50,000 British expats and destination for 870,00 tourists annually, had a reported 68,582 incidents causing 9,205 deaths in 2011 as against 1,901 fatalities in the UK.

- See more at: http://www.expatsblog.com/news/2404135587/uk-warns-expats-to-drive-carefully-overseas#sthash.XYog4XIW.dpuf

Edited October 11, 2013 by Suradit69

[laurentbkk]

Putin sending a plane for the injured .,..... thats what I call a big SLAP in the government's faces.

[renaissanc]

Imagine if this were an accident involving British tourists. The British Embassy officials wouldn't put down their glass of Cognac and their cigar as they read it, and would carry on to the next article. Such is their reputation for helpfulness and concern. If anything, they would charge each injured person for helping them.

[RogueLeader]

It seems that every day, and certainly at a few times a week, a story like this pops into my news feed. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office warn visitors:

124,855 people were killed in road traffic accidents between 2000 and 2010 meaning that on average there were over 12,000 deaths a year during this period. In the UK there have been on average about 3,000 deaths from road traffic accidents each year over the past decade. In any comparison of these statistics, you should also note that there is a difference in the method of calculating statistics for road deaths in Thailand (at the scene of the accident) and the UK (within 30 days of the accident). The risk of death or injury on the road increases if you travel at night.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/thailand/safety-and-security

I wasn't aware of this. In Thailand if you don't die immediately at the scene of the accident, you're not actually dead. It truly is a magical place.

They warn against all but essential travel to Songkhla and Narathiwat on the grounds of risk of terrorism but don't issue similar warnings for the far more likely possibility of dying in a road accident.

[RogueLeader]

Putin sending a plane for the injured .,..... thats what I call a big SLAP in the government's faces.

The world is sleeping while Putin, a very dangerous man, is seizing each opportunity for soft and hard power.

[julemanden]

Best wishes to the injured in this rare incident.

Indeed. Only 29,000 dead in road accidents per year

Please provide a link to the barstool, who gave you those numbers!!

Sorry, no barstool, but is the Nation good enough for you?

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Road-death-toll-in-Thailand-among-highest-in-the-w-30202066.html

26,000 road deaths in Thailand, #6 in the world for road deaths, 70-80% of those deaths are either motorcyclists or their passengers.

Yeah and they are not counting the ones who has no insurances either! That i was once told from my insurances man...

Edited October 11, 2013 by julemanden

[richard_smith237]

Imagine if this were an accident involving British tourists. The British Embassy officials wouldn't put down their glass of Cognac and their cigar as they read it, and would carry on to the next article. Such is their reputation for helpfulness and concern. If anything, they would charge each injured person for helping them.

Really ???.... Or is the Embassy really in place for the interests of the British Economy and business ?... think carefully before answering.

But, if an accident were to happen and a number of British Tourists injured are the Thai hospitals not well enough equipped ? OR, IF the British Government put on a plane to Medivac the tourists, wouldn't those British Expats with such a high sense of entitlement expect the same when they fall of their honda wave ?

Really - The only responsibility any foreign government has is to warn its citizens to be careful of various risks including the safety of public transport in Thailand.

On the other hand, It is the responsibility Thai government to ensure the safety of its visitors - We complain that not enough is being done and agreeably so, but to turn this into a criticism of our own Embassy is just daft... I wonder who's GF was rejected a Visa !...

On Topic:

There are way way too many mini-van and bus accidents in Thailand....

I for one advise anyone I know visiting Thailand not to use Mini-Vans and public busses. Those who still choose to, I advise them that if the driver is erratic or appears dangerous in anyway that they should get off the bus at a convenient point and re-arrange transport (not always an option, but it could make the difference).

[dcsw53]

I fell off my bike today, can you send a helicopter please Mr Cameron ?

Nothing like using the state's money for some political posturing.

[ttthailand]

Putin sending a plane for the injured .,..... thats what I call a big SLAP in the government's faces.

Yes, I would say there is some trust issues ..... Thailand hospitals in Bangkok are very good but the chance of the Thai government taking the necessary steps to assure that tourists get the best care possible and are airlifted to the best hospitals is unlikely.

[PaulHamon]

Best wishes to the injured in this rare incident.

Indeed. Only 29,000 dead in road accidents per year

Please provide a link to the barstool, who gave you those numbers!!

We''ll around 13,000 are officially road deaths in Thailand each year, but this does not count the endless number of people who DIE on the way to or at hospital. If some one died 10 minutes after been taken away or 2 weeks later from their injuries this is not labelled a road death. I personally think 29,000 is low, considering the level of medical skills/equipment in many hospitals outside high population areas are inadequate.

[dansan]

Russia to send emergency plane to Thailand to evacuate tourists injured in bus accident

Damn Dude... It's all us Brits can do to get them to visit us in distress, let alone fly us out from an accident.

[ttthailand]

Putin sending a plane for the injured .,..... thats what I call a big SLAP in the government's faces.

countries around the world pay attention .... That's how you win hearts and minds

++ for Russia for taking care of it's own

- - for Thailand for making them have to even think about doing it

[NewlyMintedThai]

I'd much rather be treated in a Thai hospital than in a Russian one.

[Endorphin]

Putin is your best travel insurance agent.

[jacko45k]

I see Pegas buses a lot, often parked up by a restaurant on the Sai Yok road just past the Kaengsian bridge.

I live near Pattaya, I have to stay in all day not to see one!

[Robby nz]

Stats that I read recently, don't remember where, said 26,800 deaths on Thai roads last year, 74% involved motorbikes or other 2 or 3 wheel vehicles.

Less than 1% involved buses and other heavy vehicles.

I note that most bus accidents are tourist buses and not regular public transport buses which I use any time I travel by road.

In 8 years of using public buses I have only ever seen 2 drivers I would not want to travel with.

To me public buses are the safest form of road transport.

That does not include vans.

[sawadee1947]

No one was seriously injured in bus crash with Russian tourists onboard in Thailand - tour operator head

KANCHANABURI: -- No one was seriously injured after a bus with 42 Russian tourists overturned in the Kanchanaburi province in northwestern Thailand, Anna Podgornaya, General Director of the Pegas Touristic tour operator told reporters on Friday.

The accident involving a Pegas Touristic bus occurred at around noon local time (9:00 am Moscow Time).

"According to the preliminary information, there are no fatalities. No one was seriously hurt. Several people sustained minor injuries," she said without specifying how many people had been injured.

Russia’s Federal Travel Agency Rosturism is clarifying the circumstances of the accident, the RIA Novosti news agency quotes Rosturism spokesman Irina Shchegolkova as saying.

Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_11/No-one-was-seriously-injured-in-bus-crash-with-Russian-tourists-onboard-in-Thailand-tour-operator-head-7394/

-- THE VOICE OF RUSSIA 2013-10-11

...a never ending story... with buses. Even we don't know what happened. Maybe the driver was tired, drunk or drugged or a bit of everything..

[mok199]

it is so obvious why thailnd is trying to make it impossible to travel here without ones own private travel inurance,instead of fixing the problems here which are again so obvious,inexperinced drivers who think only of A to B,instead of care and passengers well being,and is true with every form of transprtaion here,boats buses taxis,anytime you leave your life in the hands of a thai driver,you are rolling the dice...these operators need to be knocked down a few pegs and know they are just operators and poor ones at best....the arrogance is matched only by thier ignorance...

[cooked]

Weird how this stuff comes down the grapevine... the neighbour just came in and told us 20 people were dead in a coach crash near Kanchanaburi.