The other victim of the canal crash has been named as Lilia Godynska, 36.


PHUKET: A Phuket expat resident who died last night in a canal crash with a woman friend had been celebrating her qualification as a licenced driver in Thailand, police said today.

The woman, Russian Elena Evseeva, 39, crashed a white Fortuner into a canal at Land and House, a well-known property development in southern Phuket. She and a Ukrainian friend aged 36 were killed.

Ms Evseeva ran a restaurant and tour agency at Bang Tao, further to the north on Phuket's west coast, according to police.

Her husband was helping police with inquiries at Chalong Police Station in southern Phuket today. It is believed the couple had a six-year-old daughter.

Ms Evseeva was due to meet a Thai friend at Tesco-Lotus this morning to catch a flight to go shopping for the first time in Singapore.

''We have been told that the dead woman qualified for her Thai driving licence at the Transport office in Phuket City yesterday,'' said Lieutenant Nitikorn Rawang. ''She was so pleased that she invited her friend to celebrate last night.''

The white Fortuner hit a footpath kerb in the Land and House development about 11.30pm, crashed into a tree and then overturned into a canal.

Desperate efforts were made by rescuers to get to the women, as the vehicle lay upside down in the canal. Phuket's Kusoldharm Foundation workers managed to free one woman, but she died before reaching hospital.

A crane had to be called in to lift the upturned Fortuner free. During this process, the body of the woman inside the cabin fell into the canal and was retrieved.

The bodies of both women are now in Vachira Phuket Hospital, in Phuket City.

Phuketwan has been given the name of the Ukrainian woman who died but is withholding it until relatives have been notified.

It is believed she was the marketing person for a popular tourist snake show in Chalong.

Last night's crash was the second double fatality involving expats on Phuket since July 22, when a Latvian woman and a Kuwaiti man died after a car ran off a Phuket road and crashed into a pole not far from Central Festival Phuket in Phuket City.

Two other people - backseat passengers - were treated in Phuket hospitals.

Tha Latvian woman had not been drinking. Officers investigating last night's deadly crash suspect speed and possibly alcohol may have been factors.

Road toll fatalities for June totalled just seven on Phuket, equal lowest monthly tally for the year. Most victims are motorcyclists.