MAJOR roadwork began today to obliterate the killer bend that claimed the lives of six people when a pickup collided with a tourist bus on Phuket on Sunday.
The rapid design change to the camber and width of the dangerous downhill corner on Big Buddha Hill is likely to reduce the risk or perhaps even prevent a repetition of Sunday's tragic crash.
It is believed a consortium of businesses with an interest in public safety and tourism decided that the sharp bend, which last year also claimed the life of an Australian tourist on his honeymoon and left eight other Aussie injured, needed an immediate fix.
Phuket Police Commander Major General Pekad Tantipong gave the immediate go-ahead for the project, recognising that the bend was unsafe.
Workmen in a bulldozer moved in this morning to enlarge the road and end the concern that the bend could kill again.
A truck driver making his way down the hill yesterday overturned his vehicle and later told police he had seen ''bodies on the road'' at the bend.
An agonising series of photographs by Phuketwan journalist Sert Tongdee of a father who lost two daughters aged 12 and three in Sunday's crash brought home perhaps more than words could the human cost.
Five of the six victims were Burmese workers or members of their families. They had been celebrating Burma's New Year holiday at the summit of Big Buddha Hill.
The 45-metre statue, built by Burmese laborers, now deservedly attracts hundreds of worshippers and tourists in all forms of transport every day.
The toll from Sunday's crash was tragically high, yet it could have been worse.
The other vehicle in the collision, a bus holding 15 Australian tourists headed for an elephant camp up the hill, was sturdy and new. None of the passengers on the bus were hurt, apart from superficial cuts, as the pickup, overloaded and out of control, hit the side of the bus and overturned.
The Thai driver and his passengers were due to be cremated in ceremonies at a temple in Phuket City yesterday and today, with the three-year-old to be buried at a cemetery in north Phuket, as is customary for Burmese children under the age of 10.
Phuket Truck Crashes on 'Ghostly' Big Buddha BendThe rapid design change to the camber and width of the dangerous downhill corner on Big Buddha Hill is likely to reduce the risk or perhaps even prevent a repetition of Sunday's tragic crash.
It is believed a consortium of businesses with an interest in public safety and tourism decided that the sharp bend, which last year also claimed the life of an Australian tourist on his honeymoon and left eight other Aussie injured, needed an immediate fix.
Phuket Police Commander Major General Pekad Tantipong gave the immediate go-ahead for the project, recognising that the bend was unsafe.
Workmen in a bulldozer moved in this morning to enlarge the road and end the concern that the bend could kill again.
A truck driver making his way down the hill yesterday overturned his vehicle and later told police he had seen ''bodies on the road'' at the bend.
An agonising series of photographs by Phuketwan journalist Sert Tongdee of a father who lost two daughters aged 12 and three in Sunday's crash brought home perhaps more than words could the human cost.
Five of the six victims were Burmese workers or members of their families. They had been celebrating Burma's New Year holiday at the summit of Big Buddha Hill.
The 45-metre statue, built by Burmese laborers, now deservedly attracts hundreds of worshippers and tourists in all forms of transport every day.
The toll from Sunday's crash was tragically high, yet it could have been worse.
The other vehicle in the collision, a bus holding 15 Australian tourists headed for an elephant camp up the hill, was sturdy and new. None of the passengers on the bus were hurt, apart from superficial cuts, as the pickup, overloaded and out of control, hit the side of the bus and overturned.
The Thai driver and his passengers were due to be cremated in ceremonies at a temple in Phuket City yesterday and today, with the three-year-old to be buried at a cemetery in north Phuket, as is customary for Burmese children under the age of 10.
Breaking News A rubber truck has overturned on a Big Buddha Hill bend, injuring the driver, at the same point where six people were killed in a collision on Sunday.
Phuket Truck Crashes on 'Ghostly' Big Buddha Bend
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Phuket Calls Mount for Quick Fix to Killer Bend
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Phuket Calls Mount for Quick Fix to Killer Bend
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Phuket Big Buddha Tragedy: Six Die After Crash With Tourist Bus
PHOTO ALBUM Six people are reported dead after a tour bus and a pickup laden with Burmese collide on a sharp bend on Phuket's Big Buddha hill. About 20 others are injured.
Phuket Big Buddha Tragedy: Six Die After Crash With Tourist Bus
How can the Police give the go-ahead?
Shouldn't it be a Transport authority to do this?
Posted by Tbs on April 20, 2011 15:54
Editor Comment:
The likelihood is that the corner is being rearranged because all authorities saw the need for immediate action, just as Phuketwan did. The barbed wire fence that appeared to be a sign of a claim to ''private'' land is no more. We're not the slightest concerned about the process, but delighted the deed has been done.