Tourists die in Andaman horror smash

6 Feb 2012

Four Swedish nationals and their Thai driver died in a horrific car accident in the Phang Nga region north of Krabi last Wednesday. The five died when a truck travelling in the opposite direction on a dual carriageway ran over the dividing strip and into the path of their car.

The six-wheeled refrigerated truck completely destroyed the Toyota Altis the five were in. The force of the accident took out the front axle of the van and the driver fled the scene of the accident near Khok Kloy on foot.

On Friday morning at around 10:00 Muhummadyukee Jehyusoh, 27, turned up at the local police station and told officers that he had been driving the van when the tragic accident occurred. Officers took the Narathiwat man to holding cells from where he was subsequently transferred to Phang Nga’s provincial prison.

Captain Santi Prakobpran from Khok Kloy Police Station said Jehyusoh had given himself up following discussions with his employer, the Chotepatama Company, and had already confessed to causing death by reckless driving. The van driver was not injured in the crash and said he had been on his way to pick up a consignment of fish on nearby Phuket.

The police captain added that investigating officers still did not know what had caused the van to veer across the carriageway divider. He added that the officers were still trying to discover whether the driver had fallen asleep or was drunk.

As the vehicles had been transported to the police station at the weekend, the only sign of the accident was tyre tracks across the carriageway divider’s grass. Most of the median strips in Thailand do not have crash barriers, only a grassy dip which allows water to quickly drain off roads in the rainy season.

Tags: Tourists die smash