PHUKET: Police investigating the freakish collision that claimed the lives of four young Swedes and their Thai diver north of Phuket yesterday expect to talk to the driver of the truck involved very soon.
As the only survivor of the crash, the truck's driver - who has yet to be named - holds the key to how he lost control of the six-wheel vehicle.
The man fled the scene soon after the impact that killed all those in the car instantly.
The collision took place on a stretch of road about 10 kilometres north of Phuket, where the four-lane highway is split by a grassy gully that runs between the two lanes heading north from Phuket and the two lanes heading south to Phuket.
''Looking at the stretch of road, it's hard to imagine how such a high-speed collision could possibly occur,'' Lieutenant Santi Prakobparn of Phang Nga provincial police said today.
''It's certainly highly unusual to have such a tragedy on what should be a very safe road,'' he said.
The owner of the company that runs the truck involved has spoken to the runaway driver and is going to help him to meet with police as soon as the driver ''recovers,'' Lieutenant Santi said today.
It's not unusual in Thailand for drivers involved in fatal crashes to flee, then give themselves up later. What confronted the driver when he descended from the cabin of his truck would have been a horrendous sight.
It took rescuers three hours to free the occupants from the crushed car. The Police Commander of Phang Nga, Major General Apirak Hongtong, was on the scene yesterday to view the aftermath of the crash.
Major General Apirak, formerly Police Commander on Phuket, told Phuketwan his conclusion was that the driver of the truck either fell asleep at the wheel or there must have been some kind of mechanical failure.
The truck would have gone down one side of the grassy gully then risen up the slope on the far side. The damage to the car that the four Swedes had hired in Patong, on Phuket's west coast, was consistent with the truck emerging from the gully virtually airborne, then crashing down on the cabin section of the car.
The refrigerated truck, with a bright rainbow on its side, came to a stop in grass on the far side of the highway. It was about 7am.
Relatives of the hired car's driver, Wichit Phromluang, 26, picked up his body today from Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City and were taking it back for a Buddhist cremation near his home in Udonthani province.
The bodies of the four young Swedes - Johan Olof Nikolas Svensson, 22, Frida Madeleine Falk, 22, Anders Tobias Larsson, 22, and Elin Marita Hedbris, 21 - are still at the hospital on Phuket.
The two couples met in Thailand about a year ago and were enjoying a diving holiday before the crash yesterday.
Officials at the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok were unable to say today what plans their families might be considering for transporting their children home.
As the only survivor of the crash, the truck's driver - who has yet to be named - holds the key to how he lost control of the six-wheel vehicle.
The man fled the scene soon after the impact that killed all those in the car instantly.
The collision took place on a stretch of road about 10 kilometres north of Phuket, where the four-lane highway is split by a grassy gully that runs between the two lanes heading north from Phuket and the two lanes heading south to Phuket.
''Looking at the stretch of road, it's hard to imagine how such a high-speed collision could possibly occur,'' Lieutenant Santi Prakobparn of Phang Nga provincial police said today.
''It's certainly highly unusual to have such a tragedy on what should be a very safe road,'' he said.
The owner of the company that runs the truck involved has spoken to the runaway driver and is going to help him to meet with police as soon as the driver ''recovers,'' Lieutenant Santi said today.
It's not unusual in Thailand for drivers involved in fatal crashes to flee, then give themselves up later. What confronted the driver when he descended from the cabin of his truck would have been a horrendous sight.
It took rescuers three hours to free the occupants from the crushed car. The Police Commander of Phang Nga, Major General Apirak Hongtong, was on the scene yesterday to view the aftermath of the crash.
Major General Apirak, formerly Police Commander on Phuket, told Phuketwan his conclusion was that the driver of the truck either fell asleep at the wheel or there must have been some kind of mechanical failure.
The truck would have gone down one side of the grassy gully then risen up the slope on the far side. The damage to the car that the four Swedes had hired in Patong, on Phuket's west coast, was consistent with the truck emerging from the gully virtually airborne, then crashing down on the cabin section of the car.
The refrigerated truck, with a bright rainbow on its side, came to a stop in grass on the far side of the highway. It was about 7am.
Relatives of the hired car's driver, Wichit Phromluang, 26, picked up his body today from Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City and were taking it back for a Buddhist cremation near his home in Udonthani province.
The bodies of the four young Swedes - Johan Olof Nikolas Svensson, 22, Frida Madeleine Falk, 22, Anders Tobias Larsson, 22, and Elin Marita Hedbris, 21 - are still at the hospital on Phuket.
The two couples met in Thailand about a year ago and were enjoying a diving holiday before the crash yesterday.
Officials at the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok were unable to say today what plans their families might be considering for transporting their children home.
Phuket Tourists' Death Crash: Truck Driver 'Preparing to Surrender'
Now that the alcohol is out of his system maybe!
Posted by Nick on February 2, 2012 18:15