Death Toll Rises to 102 on Second Day of Songkrans “Seven Dangerous Days”

TRANG – Twenty-three passengers were injured when a  tour bus going form Bangkok to Trang, overturned in Huay Yod district of Trang Province on Sunday morning, local police said.

There were 39 passengers on board,  23 were injured and admitted to Trang and Huay Yod hospitals.

The driver Chairat Raksa was taken to a police station for investigation.

Meanwhile in Nakhon Thai district of Phitsanulok province, Eighteen people were injured when a Khon Kaen-Chiang Mai tour bus skidded off the road and rammed into the foot of a roadside mountain in  early on Sunday.

Pol Lt Khemrat Chaemthong, the duty officer of Ban Yaeng police station, said the accident occurred on Phitsanulok-Lom Sak road at about 1am after the right front tire of the bus burst, the tour bus was taking 30 passengers from Khon Kaen to Chiang Mai.

Seventeen passengers and the driver were injured while 13 other passengers were safe, sixteen of the injured were admitted to Lom Sak Hospital, one to Camp Son Hospital and one to Phra Yuppharat Hospital in Muang district of Phitsanulok.

So far this year 102 people have been killed and 839 injured in 850 accidents during Songkran’s Seven Dangerous Days (April 11-17) of the Songkran festival, according to the road accidents prevention and reduction centre of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department.

Major causes of accidents are drunk driving (38.43%) and speeding (25.27%).

Most of the accidents involved motorcycles (80.75%) and pickup trucks (9.73%) and occurred during 4pm-8pm.