7 killed in Surat Thani pickup accident including 2 year old twins
A family of seven, including two year old twins, lost their lives when their pickup crashed into a tree on the side of Asian Highway 41 in the southern province of Surat Thani yesterday, December 2. The crash site was just 4 kilometres from the location of a fatal bus accident the previous day.
Rescuers from the Kusol Sattha Surat Thani Foundation were called to the scene of the accident at around 7am yesterday to extract the seven victims from the damaged pickup using metal-cutting tools.
Four victims were pronounced dead at the scene, including two Thai women and two twin boys. The remaining three victims, who suffered severe injuries, were rushed to hospital but later succumbed to their injuries. All the deceased were identified as follows:
- The 21 year old male driver, Chucheep Jaitiangtham
- The 70 year old grandmother of the driver, Nittaya Kirdchatri
- The 25 year old grandson of Nittaya, Suppachai Boonthan
- A 72 year old woman, Sisunan Pinanchai
- The 27 year old wife of Chucheep, Papawadee Silathong
- The couple’s twin sons, two year old Kittamek and Kittamuk Silathong
Papawadee’s sister, 35 year old Maylinee Silathong, told KomChadLuek that all of the deceased were family members and close relatives.
They travelled together to Hua Hin in the southern province of Prachuap Khiri Khan and were returning to their home in Chumphon to attend a new year’s party when the tragedy occurred.
Drowsy driving
Nittaya’s son, 38 year old Sathit Kirdchatri, told the media that he had been travelling with all of the deceased in a separate car. He suspected the fatal crash was caused by drowsy driving, as Chucheep woke up at 1am.
His mother had called him once to inform him that Chucheep would stop to rest and sleep before continuing the journey. Sathit said he continued driving until he received a phone call from a rescuer informing him of the crash. He returned to the scene and found that everyone in the vehicle had died.
Sathit insisted that neither he nor Chucheep had been driving at high speed. He believed Chucheep had been driving at less than 100 kilometres per hour.
PPTV HD reported that the site of the recent crash was only four kilometres away from the scene of a deadly bus accident that occurred the previous day, January 1. In that incident, five passengers were killed and 33 others injured. The cause of the bus accident remains under investigation.
