One dead, 11 hurt in Patong pileup

PATONG: A man died and 11 other people were slightly injured in a three-vehicle pileup that paralysed traffic during peak hour at one of Patong’s major intersections yesterday. A truck laden with construction tools and bags of cement came barrelling down Patong hill about 5 pm, crashing into a pickup laden with workers and a mini-bus. The force of the impact, next to Wat Suwankiriwong, threw the workers in all directions. The mini-bus ended up wrapped around a power pole. Its driver, Wiwat Iamsa’ad, was killed. The T-junction, used by thousands of vehicles every day, was blocked to traffic for an hour as police investigated and ambulances ferried the injured to the local hospital. Pol Maj Chaipoj Laopathumwiroj, duty inspector of Kathu Police Station, said the driver of the truck, Samniang Sennawa, was being held by police and would be prosecuted.