Foreign Biker Killed On Patong-Kamala Rd

KAMALA BEACH: Alexander Payne, a 24-year-old Englishman living in Kamala and working in Patong, died late Friday night or early Saturday morning when the motorcycle he was driving flew off an embankment and into a deep ditch near Nakaburi at the crest of the Patong-Kamala Road. He was alone at the time of the accident. The wreckage was spotted by a passerby at about 7:30 Saturday morning. When the Patong-based Kathu police arrived at 7:45, they estimated the victim had been dead for several hours. They speculate that no other vehicle was involved and that Payne had been driving at high speed. Payne’s family in England was notified of the accident yesterday, and a representative of the British Embassy in Bangkok arrived in Phuket this afternoon to attend to formalities in connection with shipment of the body to Bangkok (and then on to the U.K.) tonight. In 1998, Phuket province recorded 180 motorcycle deaths, an average of one every other day. The site where Payne lost his life, part of a steep hill with tight, winding curves, has been particularly notorious, with several serious accidents and at least one other motorcycle death occurring in recent months.