Northern Thailand
Tour Bus Crashes in Ravine in Phrae, Driver Dead, 18 Injured
Rescue workers bring victims of the bus crash out of the ravine in Phrae province early Friday morning. (Photo courtesy of FM.91 Traffic Pro)
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PHRAE – A Thai Tour bus driver Suvichai Ketthet was killed and 18 passengers injured when the tour coach he was driving plunged off a highway into a ravine in hilly country in Long district of Phrae province late Thursday night.
Rescue workers found the body of Mr. Suvichai Ketthet, 61, inside the wreckage after breaking windows to rescue the injured passengers.
There was a total of 18 injured passengers aboard the bus, the seriously injured were rushed to Phrae Hospital and those with lesser wounds were sent to Long Hospital.
Pol Lt Col Wattana Khanacharoen, chief of Long police station, said it was probable the driver’s vision was obscured by fog and that he might have been traveling too fast for the conditions on the downhill section of the highway.
However, Mrs Khanthong Polsa, a 66-year-old passenger, said the driver had said at a stopover in Lampang province that the front left brake was not working properly.
