Minivan, bus and road accidents

[PeteC]

Wait until you see the photos at the link. It could be used for the Caption Competition if not so sad and grim.
Also, yet another example of middle of the night accidents, undoubtedly due to the driver falling asleep.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... orry-crash

NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Seven people were killed and 40 others injured when a double-decker bus carrying health volunteers on a study trip to Pattaya rammed into a trailer lorry loaded with cassava roots at an intersection in Muang district of this northeastern province early on Saturday.

The fatal crash happened at the Chai Mongkhol bypass on Ratchasima-Pak Thong Chai route in Muang district, said Pol Lt Anucha Khammuang, a duty officer at Pho Klang police station, who was reported around 3.48am on Saturday.

The tourist bus with Kalasin licence plates was carrying 47 health volunteers from Ban Nam Sai village in Chaturaphak Phiman district of Roi Et on a study trip to Pattaya in Chon Buri. The bus overturned when police and rescue workers arrived at the scene. Many passengers were injured and screaming for help as they were trapped in the wreckage.

Rescue workers rushed to retrieve all people from the wreckage. Seven people were found dead and 40 others injured. The injured were sent to nearby hospitals.

About 50 metres away, a 22-wheel trailer with Lop Buri licence plates overturned with cassava roots scattered over the road.

According to police investigation, the double-decker bus were one of the three tour buses taking health volunteers from Ban Nam Sai village in Roi Et for a study trip in Pattaya.

One survivor on the bus told police that the bus was travelling at such a high speed that the passengers could not sleep. Before the crash, the driver briefly slept at the wheel and some passengers urged him to stop for a rest. The driver said he could not do so because he had arranged to meet the drivers of the two other buses in Hinson hill area, said the survivor, according to the passenger.

When arriving at the intersection, the tour bus rammed into the trailer truck loaded with cassava roots. The bus lost control and overturned, killing seven on the spot.

The dead passengers were three men and four women. Two of them were Pinit Kaensakho, 44, and Ms Phenchan Anuprai, 66. The five others had not been identified, said police.

The police investigation was continuing.

[buksida]

18 injured in Hat Yai road accident
Eighteen people were injured after a chartered bus with 56 passengers including children on board crashed into the ditch in the median of the Asian Highway in Hat Yai district on Saturday night, police said.

The 56 passengers were from Nathawi district of Songkhla who on Saturday chartered the bus to take them to Wat Bangpho temple in Krabi province for a traditional tod krathin ceremony.

According to information from the passengers, at about 10.30pm, while nearing Ban Na Khuan in the Khuan Lang Municipality on the way back to Songkhla, the bus veered off the highway and crashed into the median ditch, ending up lying on one side.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... d-accident

[PeteC]

No real full coverage yet listing cause and details, so anticipate follow up stories. Only a few photos at link. I'm sure Thai Rath will have the full monty.

17 dead in Chachoengsao bus-train collision

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... -collision

At least 17 passengers were killed and more than dozen injured on Sunday when a bus collided with a train in Chachoengsao province, officials said.

The collision happened next to Khlong Kwaeng Klan railway station, around 50 kilometres east of Bangkok, as the bus passengers were on their way to a temple for a ceremony to mark the end of Buddhist Lent, said a district police chief.

"The death toll we have so far is 17," he said, adding that the accident occurred around 8am.

Provincial governor Maitree Tritilanond told reporters that so far about 29 people were injured.

Early images by rescue workers showed gnarled metal and debris, with bodies lying by the train tracks and people's belongings scattered.

The bus was overturned on its side, the top of it ripped off, and rescue workers said a crane was needed to lift it.

The number of casualties and injured is expected to rise.

Such deadly accidents are common in Thailand, which regularly tops lists of the world's most lethal roads, with speeding, drunk driving and weak law enforcement all contributing factors.

According to a 2018 report by the World Health Organization, the kingdom has the second-highest traffic fatality rate in the world.

Though a majority of the victims are motorcyclists, bus crashes involving groups of tourists and migrant labourers often grab headlines.

In March 2018, at least 18 people were killed and dozens wounded when a bus carrying people returning from holiday in northeastern Thailand swerved off the road and smashed into a tree.

[PeteC]

Above link now working. Updated story up to 20 dead, and more details given.

[Big Boy]

Just seen the CCTV on Thai news. It certainly whacks the bus, but I'm surprised there were so many fatalities.

[HHTel]

I see this accident has hit UK news channels and newspapers. I don't recall individual road accidents in Thailand ever being reported outside of the country.

[Dannie Boy]

It must be the relatively high number of fatalities in a single accident - shocking even by Thai standards

[hhfarang]

Here's a link to the BBC story published here:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/thailand-bus ... 51870.html

[PeteC]

Chaos, horror as fuel tanker explodes after collision

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... -collision

Many blown up and burned up photos at link......


BURI RAM: A tanker carrying 40,000 litres of fuel crashed into the rear of an 18-wheel trailer truck and exploded in flames, setting fire to nearby buildings and vehicles and injuring many people, in Nong Ki district about 12.30am on Friday,

The collision happened at an intersection on Highway 24 (Chokchai-Det Udom). Both vehicles were engulfed in flames.

Part of the tanker's fuel load spilled out onto the road surface and into the sewer

The burning fuel flowed into about 10 nearby shops and houses, and set fire to about 20 cars and motorcycles parked on the roadside.

Terrified residents, shocked from their sleep, ran for their lives as a series of explosions rocked the area.

As steady rain fell, the burning fuel spread about one kilometre along the road and through the drains. People tried to put it out with tap water, but only spread the flames further.

As the chaos spread, more than 50 fire engines were rushed the scene. Ambulances ferried many injured people to hospital.

The road was closed to traffic for a radius of five kilometres. Fire fighters took more than four hours to control the conflagration.

The drivers of both trucks fled their vehicles before the first explosion. They were among the many injured people rushed to hospital. Police said the tanker truck driver confessed he dozed off before the crash.

The oil company had to unload about 30,000 litres of fuel left in the tanker before emergency crews could begin clearing the intersection of the wreckage.

Initial estimates put damage at many millions of baht.

[HHTel]

As steady rain fell, the burning fuel spread about one kilometre along the road and through the drains. People tried to put it out with tap water, but only spread the flames further.

What goes for common sense in some countries is lacking here!

Doesn't seem to be any casualties so that's good.

[Dannie Boy]

As steady rain fell, the burning fuel spread about one kilometre along the road and through the drains. People tried to put it out with tap water, but only spread the flames further.

What goes for common sense in some countries is lacking here!

Doesn't seem to be any casualties so that's good.

This was the opening paragraph
“ A tanker carrying 40,000 litres of fuel crashed into the rear of an 18-wheel trailer truck and exploded in flames, setting fire to nearby buildings and vehicles and injuring many people, in Nong Ki district about 12.30am on Friday,”

[PeteC]

139 killed, 653 injured, as Thailand’s holiday weekend sees surge in road accidents

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/road-de ... -accidents

The Ministry of Transport has confirmed that hundreds of road traffic accidents have taken place over Thailand’s holiday weekend. 139 people have died and 653 have been injured in the course of the 4-day holiday, which was introduced to boost domestic tourism.

The Pattaya News report that 455 car accidents have been recorded, with nearly 79% of them being caused by excessive speed. 82 people died in car accidents, with a further 466 injured. The Ministry of Transport says 27 accidents caused by speeding occurred in Chon Buri.

Another 153 accidents involved motorbikes, with 47 bike riders killed and 165 injured. Most of the bike accidents were recorded in the central province of Nonthaburi and the northern province of Lamphun, with each province recording 11 motorbike accidents.

Public transport vehicles and trucks accounted for 21 accidents, with 13 caused by trucks, 5 by buses, and 3 by trains. Those accidents contributed a further 10 deaths and 22 injuries. Over 10.68 million people took to public transport over the course of the 4-day holiday, while out of more than 14 million vehicles that left Bangkok, 13 million were private cars.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News

[hhinner]

^ Wonder what it means by 3 accidents were caused by trains.

[buksida]

The Ministry of Transport has confirmed that hundreds of road traffic accidents have taken place over Thailand’s holiday weekend. 139 people have died and 653 have been injured in the course of the 4-day holiday, which was introduced to boost domestic tourism.

I'm not surprised in the least considering their aggression and 'me first' mentality on the road - just spent a few hours on the highway on a normal day and atrocious driving doesn't even come close to describing what I witnessed today.

The only way Thailand is ever going to reduce these horrific statistics is to introduce and enforce autonomous self-driving vehicles only and permanently prevent Thais from getting behind the wheel.

[handdrummer]

You think it's bad now. The Govt. has recently legalized, for medical purposes only, Cocaine, Morphine, Opium & Oxycontin. Just wait until Thai drivers start ingesting that stuff. Whoopee! From the Land of Smiles to the Land of Zombies.