Thai woman surrenders after BMW crash kills mother and 2 kids
A Thai woman surrendered at a police station in the southern province of Chumphon after crashing her friend’s BMW into a victim and her two children, killing them, before reportedly fleeing the scene with her pet cat on Wednesday.
The fatal accident occurred on a rural highway in Mueang District, Chumphon, at about 7.40pm, on November 27. Witnesses reported seeing a black BMW with the registration plate กจ 44 Nakhon Si Thammarat directly collide with a black Honda Wave 101i motorcycle on a bridge over a railway track.
The three victims on the motorcycle were pronounced dead at the scene, including a 52 year old Thai woman and her children. The body of the 16 year old boy was found on the bridge barrier, while the other two bodies were discovered on the railway tracks below the bridge.
The motorcycle was destroyed, and the BMW sustained severe damage to its front bumper and right front wheel. The driver was not present at the scene when authorities arrived.
Locals at the scene informed Channel 7 that the mother and her children were on their way home after the children had finished studying at a tutoring centre. Their home was just 6 kilometres away from the accident site, but they never made it.
Witnesses revealed that the driver of the BMW was a woman. They observed her exiting the vehicle, seemingly to assist the victims, but instead, she asked for help in searching for her pet cat, which had fled the car in fear.
Losing future doctor
After retrieving her cat, the woman reportedly left the scene in another vehicle that arrived to pick her up. Channel 7 contacted the car owner’s father, 65 year old Dam, who claimed the driver was not his daughter but a friend of hers, 30 year old Jiranthanin Taengkhao.
Dam explained that Jiranthanin had attended a family funeral and borrowed the car to drive to his home to take a shower. He insisted that Jiranthanin did not flee the scene but hid in a dark area, fearing retribution from angry locals after the fatal accident.
Jiranthanin later contacted Dam to take her to the Meuang Chumphon Police Station, where she turned herself in. She was tested for alcohol and found to have a blood alcohol level of 28 milligrammes per cent.
ThaiRath reported that Jiranthanin was temporarily detained at Chumphon Provincial Court, but her family later secured her release on bail with a 100,000-baht payment.
The woman has been primarily charged under Section 291 of the Criminal Law: negligence causing death. The penalty for this offence is imprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine of up to 200,000 baht.
A male nurse, Sathaporn Philaiphan, expressed his deep condolences for the loss, revealing that he cared for the bedridden grandmother of the 16 year old boy. The boy expressed a strong desire to become a doctor and had been dedicated to his studies.
The nurse shared that he had been teaching the boy how to care for his grandmother and had imparted some of his medical knowledge to him. Sathaporn expressed sorrow that the boy would no longer be able to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor.
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