Regional News
Tour Bus Plunges into Ravine in Uttradit Province Killing Eighteen Pensioners
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UTTRADIT – Eighteen passengers senior citizen were killed and 22 others injured when a tour bus in which they were travelling plunged into a 70-metre ravine on a mountainous road in Uttradit’s Muang district on Tuesday.
Uttradit governor Pipat Aekpapan said the Transport bus carrying 36 passengers were retirees of CAT Telecom Plc on a tour of Phrae and Nan provinces during November 19-22. The bus was on its way back to its destination in Bangkok when the accident took place on Tuesday.
Police said that the bus driver might not be familiar with the route. However, the actual cause of the accident is yet to be determined.
Rescue operation was slow because the ravine is about 70 metres from the road surface. Rescue workers had to use ropes to climb down the ravine to its bottom to reach the passengers and to use the ropes to pull both the dead and the injured out of the ravine.
The 48-year old bus driver, Mr Udom Sommart, was among the slightly injured after he reportedly jumped out of the bus before it plunged into the steep ravine.
Source: Thai PBS
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