TRANSPORT / PRE-SONGKRAN ROAD TOLL

Two crashes involving buses leave 14 dead

MANIT SANUBBOON & NUCHAREE RAKRUN

Prachin Buri _ Two separate accidents involving inter-provincial buses killed 14 people early yesterday, an ominous sign two days ahead of the Songkran holiday period which annually claims hundreds of road victims. The accidents occurred in Prachin Buri and Nakhon Si Thammarat after midnight. Seven passengers were killed in each accident.

The Prachin Buri crash also injured 31 passengers, but could have been even more tragic as the bus, loaded with 50 passengers, nearly fell off a cliff between Khao Yai and Thap Lan national parks.

The bus was on its way from Nong Khai to Rayong.

As driver Jirapat Waipanta, 44, drove down a steep hill, he was forced to turn sharply to avoid a car travelling head-on towards the bus.

The bus came to rest on the side of the road. The rear of the bus had plunged into a 10-metre-deep pit.

The seven dead included a monk, a young girl and a foreigner identified as Alan Thomas O'Connor.

A rescue team struggled to pull others out of the severely damaged vehicle.

The 31 injured were taken to nearby hospitals. Three were in a serious condition.

''We charged the driver with careless driving that led to the casualties,'' said Pol Lt Col Mongkol Janploy, inspector for Prachin Buri's Na Di district.

The driver was trying to pass an 18-wheeled truck when the accident occurred, said Transport Co acting managing director Wutichart Kalayanamit.

The Transport Co is a state enterprise under the Transport Ministry which oversees inter-provincial buses.

''It was by good luck that I survived,'' said passenger Anan Sokamkaew.

The Nakhon Sri Thammarat accident involved a collision between a bus and a pick-up truck, police said. The seven dead and one injured in the crash were all travelling in the pick-up.

Police reported the accident occurred when the pick-up truck drove without warning onto the highway from a secondary road and rammed into the Bangkok-Hat Yai bus.

Police yesterday had not been able to identify the pick-up driver.

The two buses were operated by private firms which had won concessions from Transport Co to operate buses on the routes.

Bangkok Post

Last Updated : Wednesday April 11, 2007