Tragic accident: Elderly Thai woman killed by public bus at Si Yan Intersection in Bangkok
A public bus knocked down and killed an 83 year old Thai woman while she was on a zebra crossing at Si Yan Intersection in Bangkok at 7am yesterday. The bus driver confessed he did not see the victim crossing the road when he made a turn.
Officers from Samsen Police Station were notified of the accident and rushed to investigate and assist the victim, who was later identified as Yupin Hayakun. Yupin was found lying on the zebra crossing with two broken legs. She was immediately sent to Vajira Hospital for treatment.
At the scene, the officers found a beige-red public bus number 66, operated by the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), parked in the middle of the road. The bus operates between Bangkok Bus Terminal, known as Sai Tai Mai and Chang Wattana Government Complex.
The bus driver, Ampon, reported that his usual route, Samsen Road, was closed for maintenance, so he had to use another road. Ampon said he made a turn to change direction but did not see Yupin crossing the road.
Yupin’s relative reported to the police that the accident happened while Yupin was on the way to buy food for her grandchild who suffered from cancer.
After the incident, the BMTA apologised on its official Facebook page and promised to compensate the victim’s family while improving its service to emphasize the safety of its passengers and residents.
Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the medical staff, Yupin was pronounced dead at Vajira Hospital the following day. Her cousin, Thanyaporn Tancharoen, picked up her body for the funeral at 10am.
Thanyaporn reported that she spoke with the bus driver, Ampon, on the day of the accident. She mentioned that Ampon cried and kept apologising for what had happened. Thanyaporn and her family forgave him but were still curious about the cause of the accident.
Thanyaporn revealed that she and others in the family heard from locals who witnessed the accident that a motorcycle crashed into Yupin before the public bus ran over her when she fell to the floor.
However, police officers insisted that there was no motorcycle involved in the accident. Thanyaporn wanted to check the CCTV footage to prove the police’s claim.
Ampon’s team leader, Sommai Choolert, explained that the BMTA checked the public’s bus GPS and discovered that Ampon was driving at only 20 kilometres per hour when the accident happened. He had been a good worker and never received any complaints from passengers.
According to the Samsen Police Station, charges against Ampon would be issued after the autopsy result. He was initially charged with violating Section 391 of the Criminal Law: performing any acts recklessly causing death to another person. The penalty for this charge would be imprisonment for up to ten years and a fine of up to 200,000 baht.
