French resident dies in head-on smash
PATONG: A French resident, 27-year-old Laurent Robert Beauvais, was killed when his motorcycle smashed head-on into a jeep on the bypass road in the early hours of yesterday morning. The investigating officer, Pol Maj Songwut Khunjan of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette that the accident happened opposite the Daihatsu showroom at about 3.20 am. The jeep’s driver, 30-year-old Preeda Wongmusik, told the police that she saw a motorbike approaching very fast from the opposite direction. Worried that the rider might be drunk, she slowed down, but the motorbike veered into her path and hit the jeep head-on. When police arrived at the scene, they found Beauvais’ body lying near the jeep. His motorcycle was lying about 10 meters away. He is believed to have died instantly from a broken neck and severe head injuries. Maj Songwut noted, “I believe that he [Beauvais] was drunk because I could smell whisky from his body and I found whisky listed on a restaurant bill in his pocket.” At first Beauvais could not be identified, but the police managed to contact his Thai girlfriend after checking the motorbike’s registration. Beauvais, who had been unemployed for about three years, lived with his girlfriend at Kata.
