Phuket crash kills foreigner, the 35th road death on island this year

Phuket’s number of road deaths reached 35 this year after a motorcycle crash killed a foreigner early this morning. The accident happened on Karon Beach Road on Phuket’s west coast at about 2.28am, according to Ruamjai Rescue Foundation.

Rescuers and emergency medical service teams arrived on the scene to find a garbage truck parked on the side of the road. The foreigner’s body and a damaged motorcycle were lying nearby, The Phuket News reported.

The victim is believed to have died instantly after rear-ending the garbage truck. It is not known whether the person was wearing a helmet while riding, or if they were fit to drive.

The foundation did not reveal anything about the victim’s identity, sharing neither their nationality, age, or gender.

The Thailand Road Safety Committee (ThaiRSC) said that so far this year, 34 people (not including the victim in Karon) had died in road accidents in Phuket. Meanwhile, 5,883 people have been hospitalised after road accidents on the island. Today and yesterday there were no deaths and 78 people injured in Phuket road accidents.

Last week, a tragic road death occurred in Phuket after a truck crushed a motorbike rider‘s head. The incident happened on the road running along Rawai Beach in the Rawai sub-district in Phuket’s main city district.

The ThaiRSC reported in January that as many as 939,713 road accidents were reported in Thailand last year, up 4.7% from 2021. Road accidents killed 14,737 people, and injured 924,799 last year, ThaiRSC said. The committee reported that 536 deaths and 7,885 injuries were among foreigners.

Meanwhile, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department’s Road Safety Centre reported 2,440 road accidents during the annual “7 dangerous days” (December 29 to January 4) when people head to their hometowns to mark the new year.

During this time there were 2,437 injuries and 317 deaths, with Surat Thani having the highest number of accidents at 79 and Kanchanaburi with the highest number of injuries at 81. Chiang Rai recorded the most deaths at 15.