Thai man killed after losing consciousness at wheel, wife injured

A Thai man today lost consciousness while driving crashing his pickup into a house by the roadside on Phraeksa Road in Samut Prakan province near Bangkok. The driver died at the scene while his wife was injured.

The owner of the damaged house, 47 year old Suriyan, called officers from Bangpu Police Station and rescuers from the Ruamkatanyu Foundation to help the couple trapped in their pickup. Suriyan revealed that he was asleep when a crashing noise woke him at about 6am, today, October 21.

Suriyan rushed outside to investigate and found the black pickup had crashed into his home. He heard the woman, later identified as 56 year old Sudarat, screaming for help but was unable to assist her. He contacted the police and rescuers for help.

According to the police report, the pickup had flipped on its side inside Suriyan’s home. An electricity transformer from the nearby power pole fell onto the vehicle. Rescuers spent over 20 minutes using a metal-cutting tool to free the couple from the vehicle.

Sudarat sustained a bloody wound to her mouth and was in pain from her chest injuries. Her husband, 58 year old Jaray, died at the wheel due to a broken neck.

Sudarat explained that she and her husband were on their way to the hospital because she was experiencing tooth pain. Unexpectedly, Jaray, who had a congenital disease, lost consciousness at the wheel and crashed the pickup into the power pole before colliding with Suriyan’s house.

Details of Jaray’s congenital disease were not disclosed in the report, nor was there an update on Sudarat’s condition.

Police are now awaiting the autopsy results for Jaray and are reviewing security cameras along the road to proceed with further legal investigations.

In a related incident, a Thai tuk tuk driver fainted while driving on Santiphap Road in Bangkok in August and crashed his vehicle into a taxi. Fortunately, both the tuk tuk driver and the taxi driver were unharmed.

Another similar incident occurred earlier this month when a Thai woman lost consciousness while driving in Siracha district, Chon Buri province, and crashed into a roadside forest. Sadly, the 59 year old woman and a six year old boy were killed in the accident.