PRACHUAB KHIRI KHAN – Fourteen passengers were killed and 35 injured when a double-decker bus from Bangkok to Songkhla province’s Na Thawi district rammed into a tree in front of Hat Wanakorn National Park at 1 a.m. Tuesday in Prachuab Kiri Khan province.
The Sawang Rungrueang Rescue Foundation brought 35 individuals to local hospitals. The bus was transferred and parked at Huai Yang Police Station for inspection by relevant agencies. to the accident cause.
On December 5, the forensic police could identify of 10 people, but the other 4 have not. Further investigation is needed. The police revealed that most victims were Thai and a few were Burmese.
The relatives of ten of the deceased have contacted the officers to transport the bodies to their hometowns; the remaining four bodies are being held temporarily at the Sawang Rungruang Thammasathan Thap Sakae Foundation.
According to Air Chief Marshal Chatchai Sawiyanon, head of the Huai Yang Subdistrict Administrative Organization’s Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Unit, the majority of the dead are on the car’s left side. Seven people died on the top floor, three on the lower level, and four more were thrown from the car.
Furthermore, two people were discovered to have good fortune: a 4-year-old toddler and a 17-year-old male teenager in the front seat who unexpectedly slid out of the vehicle; neither was hurt.
Ms. Suparatana Hueantong, or Fern, a final-year Liberal Arts major at Srinakharinwirot University Prasarnmit in Bangkok, was among those killed on this tour bus.
According to Fern’s father, Mr. Damrat Huentong, his daughter called her brother to come pick her up at the bus terminal in Phatthalung Province, so he and his son went out to meet her but never saw a tour bus arrive. He called his daughter numerous times, but no one answered.
“I inquired about other tour buses until I learned that there was a tour bus down the road in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, which was the car that my daughter rode in,” Damrat recounted with tears in his eyes.
Ms. Thamonwan Lakchai, 54, aunt of Ms. Kanlayakon Pool-iad, or Dok Khem, 17, who died in the accident with her mother, claimed Dok Khem and her mother, Ms. Lamai, 54, went in this bus. Dok Khem and her mother were on their way home to Nakhon Si Thammarat Province after reporting to Silpakorn University in Nakhon Pathom Province.
“Dok Khem’s father was shocked to learn that he had lost both his wife and his only daughter at the same time.” He was unable to communicate with anyone. So I organised this for him to transport the bodies back to their hometown in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province for merit-making,” Thamonwan explained.
The tour bus was traveling from Bangkok, to Songkhla province, southern Thailand. It was carrying 49 people when it ran off the road and hit a tree near Hat Wanakorn National Park, Prachuap Khiri Khan province.
Pol. Col. Weerapat Ketesa, the superintendent of the Huay Yang Police Station, stated that the driver who survived the accident might have fallen asleep. The officials were waiting for the result of a blood test on him.
Police said the double-decker bus was not going beyond the speed limit. The speed measured at the time of the accident was 90 kms per hour.
_____
