Polish tourist killed in Phuket vehicle crash

A Polish tourist was tragically killed in a vehicle crash in Phuket’s town of Kamala yesterday. The 69 year old man crashed his motorbike into a taxi car on Patong Road.

Rescuers dashed to the scene to find the man lying on the road, having sustained severe head injuries. The taxi car and the motorbike were both damaged.

The taxi driver, 45 year old Wirayut Thongpaen, did not answer questions about the incident in the press.

The rescuers rushed the injured man to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, The Phuket Express reported. Police are continuing their investigation to find the exact cause of the accident for further potential legal action.

This news comes after another fatal crash in Phuket earlier this month. A motorbike and car crash in Rawai killed a Russian man, a Russian woman, and a Thai woman in the early hours of the morning. The crash happened when a big bike, a motorbike, and a taxi car all collided.

Rescuers arrived to find the damaged vehicles scattered over the road. Nearby, they found the body of the 35 year old Russian man, the big bike rider. A 29 year old Russian woman, his passenger, was found near him, and she was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

In September, a Russian man was killed after crashing his motorbike into a minivan in Phuket’s resort town of Karon. Rescuers arrived at the scene on the Karon–Patong Road to find the unconscious man lying on the road and heavily bleeding from his head. The rescuers rushed him to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Thailand’s roads are notoriously deadly. Thailand was ranked the second most dangerous country to drive in according to a driver’s educational platform. There were 21,052 accidents in 2020, and 11,138 accidents in 2021. About 20% of accidents involved motorcycles, while 8% involved six-wheel trucks, and 8% involved trucks with at least 10 wheels. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha this year announced a major goal of cutting the number of road deaths by almost two-thirds by 2027.

The recent crash that killed the Polish man in Kamala is Thailand’s latest tragic road death.