Phuket motorbike tragedy claims life of young Polish woman

A motorbike tragedy in Phuket claimed the life of a young Polish woman yesterday, in Thailand’s latest road accident. The 33 year old rider was killed after she crashed her motorbike and slid under a trailer truck in the Chalong sub-district of Phuket’s main city district.

Rescuers arrived at the scene on Chao Fa West Road, in front of a housing estate. Upon arrival, they found the damaged motocross motorbike on the road and the body of the female rider nearby.

The victim was identified as a 33 year old Polish national, however, The Phuket Express was withholding her name pending family and embassy notification. Sadly, the woman’s helmet was completely crushed, and she suffered fatal injuries to her head and body.

The trailer truck driver, 49 year old Boonnah Pinnarat, was waiting at the scene for law enforcement near his truck. Boonnah was uninjured.

Chalong Police said that CCTV footage of the incident showed the Polish rider attempting to overtake the truck from the left side before losing control, crashing, and sliding under the truck.

This tragic news comes just a month after another Phuket motorbike crash killed a Russian tourist. A motorcycle with two foreigners flew off a small road and crashed, killing the driver on the spot. The driver was wearing an open-face crash helmet, which unfortunately did not protect him from an injury to his forehead.

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.

Following the Songkran holiday this year, during the seven deadly days‘ from April 11 to 17, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) revealed that there were 2,203 road accidents, 2,208 injuries, and 264 deaths during this period. Bangkok recorded the highest number of fatalities with 22 deaths. Chiang Rai had the highest number of accidents with 68, while Nakhon Si Thammarat recorded the highest number of injuries with 70.