Phuket Breaking News: Bus overturns on Chalong-Kata hill

PHUKET: A tour bus overturned on a steep section of Patak Road in Chalong this morning, resulting in multiple injuries and at least one fatality.

A female Chinese tourist in her 60s has died in the accident, Chalong Police confirmed to the Phuket Gazette.

A nurse at the scene said that at least 26 people were injured.

The bus overturned at about 8am off Patak Road westbound, near the upscale Mom Tri Villas Grand Cru.

On the road uphill from overturned bus was another bus – a double-decker tour bus with a Best Way Best Services logo – that had one “exploded” tire, an eyewitness told the Phuket Gazette.

“There have been many people taken to Bangkok Hospital Phuket, Phuket International Hospital and Vachira Phuket Hospital. I don’t know how many, but there are a lot of ambulances coming and going,” the eyewitness said.

Chalong Police and Chalong Fire Department are at the scene, where they are getting assistance from a number of other Phuket emergency rescue agencies.

“I just saw emergency workers pull a woman [from the overturned bus] who looked to be dead. They’ve got the ‘jaws of life’ here and it looks as though they’re cutting someone else out now,” he said.

The overturned bus is lying on its roof, pinned between two trees. The trees may have stopped the bus from rolling further downhill, he said.

A large electricity pylon was “broken in two” by the accident, he added.

At last report, the road between Chlaong and Kata remained closed, with traffic from both directions being turned back by police.

— D Noble / N Altstadt