Phuket hotel singer dies in visa run crash

PHUKET: Police have confirmed that the Philippines woman who died in the visa run van accident in Trang province early Monday morning worked in Phuket as a singer in a hotel restaurant.

The woman, who police have yet to name, was sitting in the back row of seats in the van at the time of the accident.

“There was heavy rain that night and the driver lost control of the vehicle,” explained case investigator Capt Opas Jaiboon of the Si Kao District Police in Trang.

“The woman was sitting in the back seat of the van, and the van spun on the wet road and the back of the vehicle struck a tree,” he told the Phuket Gazette.

The woman was unresponsive at the scene and pronounced dead shortly after, Capt Opas said.

“Her work permit listed her as singer at a hotel restaurant in Phuket,” he said, but declined to reveal any further details at this stage.

The Philippines Embassy in Bangkok yesterday confirmed they had been notified of the incident.

“We have been notified of the death,” an officer at the consular section said.

However, he declined to name the woman.

“We have notified her family and arrangements are being made to have her remains repatriated,” he added.

Meanwhile, two people remain in hospital receiving treatment for injuries sustained in the crash.

“Two people were recovered from the vehicle with broken arms and legs,” Capt Opas said.

“Their injuries may have been more extensive, but that’s all I was told when rescue teams took them to the hospital,” he added.

The Gazette has yet to confirm with staff at Trang Hospital the current condition of the two injured visa-runners.

— Orawin Narabal