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Women Crushed as Cement Truck Topples on Patong Hill: Phuket's Truck Toll of Five Deaths in Five Days
By Sert Tongdee Monday, July 6, 2015
PHUKET: Two women were crushed to death today when a cement truck tipped and smashed their motorcycle into a power pole on Phuket's Patong Hill this afternoon.
The shocking impact gave the women no hope of survival.
According to police, the cement truck, descending on the Patong side, slipped across the road in wet conditions and pinned the women beneath it when it toppled.
The 42-year-old driver, Suthin Dawan, was being interviewed by Kathu Police Station officers after suffering slight injuries.
The bodies of the women were taken to Patong Hospital.
Trucks crashing on Phuket hills have now claimed five deaths in five days.
Two Burmese workers died when 30 passengers tipped onto the road verge on the Nakalay stretch of the coast road between Patong and Kamala on Thursday.
On Friday, a woman motorcyclist was crushed when a truck carrying chlorine lost its brakes and toppled at the base of Patong Hill.
On Saturday, a cement truck crashed into a ditch on the Kamala hill but there were no fatalities.
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Comments
Comments have been disabled for this article.
Let me guess
A: Brakes failed
B: Lost control due to rain
Responsibility
A: Owner of the vehicle for failing to maintain it in safe working order and Land Transport office for failing to oversee the vehicle complies with safety regulations.
B: Driver for failing to adjust his speed to the driving conditions.
I wonder what happened to the ban of heavy vehicles on that hill ?
Posted by
Herbert
on
July 6, 2015 15:24
Editor Comment:
Is that enough guesses, Herbert, or would you like some more? What a shame the concept of waiting for the facts isn't always A on your list of one.
That road was drier than the Sahara desert in summer. I know, I was on that road. So mister policeman, pray do tell all, where is the wet road?
Posted by
Duncan B
on
July 6, 2015 16:05
Editor Comment:
If you weren't there at the time, Duncan B, you may be mistaken. Everybody knows how quickly a storm can dump and dry on Phuket.
When are the Thais learning how to drive heavy cars and trucks.
Cement trucks and tank trucks is very complicated to drive, I wonder how the education of these driver are, the Thai Transportation Office and others involved must take action before more tragic deaths ocure on the Phuket hills.
This is a very dangerous Island, education, controls by the goverment, take action now before tourists run away for good from this island.
Posted by
Expat Norway
on
July 6, 2015 16:21
The main culprits of so many useless deaths are:
1/- Tuk-tuk and taxi cartel which are opposing any form of mass transit system pushing all local people to use motorcycles to go to work or to school.
2/- Police for not strengthen all laws regulating vehicles and drivers' licenses.
3/- Phuket Provincial Land Transport Office for negligence to check properly all buses and trucks as well for not securing all roads with proper traffic signs, lighting and flat surfacing.
Posted by
Whistle-Blower
on
July 6, 2015 16:38
Really a tragic accident. R.I.P Girls
I did not thought that Trucks and Buses was allowed to go over the hill at that time when the accident happen. I understand that the accident happen around 2PM.
Posted by
Mj
on
July 6, 2015 16:40
Ed I wrote that I was on Phuket's Patong Hill at the time of the accident. The road was bone dry.
As for the cement truck, he drove like a bat out of hell through Kathu.
An all too familiar occurrence here.
The islands drivers are reckless and have no sense of speed nor of judging distance.
Posted by
Duncan B
on
July 6, 2015 16:41
no guesswork needed to say its high speeding with wrongly used brakes thats the problem. wich means the drivers doesent have enough respect or knowledge of the situation.. RIP girls and hope some one some day get the be charged for this kind of actions
Posted by
frog
on
July 6, 2015 16:49
This carnage is worse then New Year or Song Kran! Quite extraordinary & more than coincidental. It would appear the police & authorities simply don't care enough or wish to make some positive move to end this malaise.
Posted by
Logic
on
July 6, 2015 18:47
Editor Comment:
Or it could just be coincidental carelessness on the part of drivers and riders, Logic.
I did pass the road just minutes after the accident.
The road was dry!
Posted by
Mr. K
on
July 6, 2015 18:55
Editor Comment:
Are you saying that because it was dry when you passed ''minutes after the accident,'' it could not have been wet at the time? Could I make the point, Mr K, that what are you talking here - two minutes or 10 minutes or 20 minutes? I am sure you realise that unless you were at the scene at the time of the crash, speculation about whether the road was wet or dry remains a total waste of time.
Even if law enforcement was strict, the fines and punishments are laughable. Causing an accident like this probably would result in what, a fine of 1000 baht?
Posted by
christian
on
July 6, 2015 19:03
Also, i have become pretty jaded when it comes to accidents and traffic deaths here in Thailand. I travel all over Thailand and these days whenever I pass by the scene of an accident I hardly raise an eyebrow, or stop a conversation. It's like "oh a body on the road next to a mangled motorbike" and then back to whatever i was talking about before.
Posted by
christian
on
July 6, 2015 19:06
The best we can hope for on Phuket is that we reach the point were the whole island is locked in one big traffic jam because every time there is a gap in traffic there is someone willing to go to fast for the road conditions and/or visibility today while walking up Big Buddha a Van tried to pass a Tuk Tuk on a blind corner and was lucky to get back behind the Tuk Tuk as a large truck coming down the hill just missed him. There are so many drivers that go way faster than is safe and it is just a matter of luck daily on Phuket whether someone dies as a result.
Posted by
mike
on
July 6, 2015 19:29
The most obvious clue that it was not raining before or during the accident is how dark the tyres brake marks are.
If you go out on a wet road and lock your wheels or even try doing a burnout in the wet you will find it near impossible to leave any kind of rubber reminents, plus coming down at the angle the truck was suppose to be veering sideways, those skid marks are too straight to be wet braking when the police state the truck skipped sideways.
I have travelled that Hill countless times, the amount of times I have been over taken by trucks doing more than logical speed for size and weight and condition of the roads, this comes as no surprise.
Posted by
ohno
on
July 7, 2015 04:51
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Let me guess
A: Brakes failed
B: Lost control due to rain
Responsibility
A: Owner of the vehicle for failing to maintain it in safe working order and Land Transport office for failing to oversee the vehicle complies with safety regulations.
B: Driver for failing to adjust his speed to the driving conditions.
I wonder what happened to the ban of heavy vehicles on that hill ?
Posted by Herbert on July 6, 2015 15:24
Editor Comment:
Is that enough guesses, Herbert, or would you like some more? What a shame the concept of waiting for the facts isn't always A on your list of one.