Phuket passenger van crashes in Trang: 1 dead, 4 injured

PHUKET: One person was killed and four badly injured when a Phuket passenger van bound for Haad Yai lost its brakes and crashed into a car in Trang yesterday afternoon.

Muang District Police in Trang were notified of the accident at 2pm yesterday.

At the scene, a four-way intersection on the Trang bypass road in Nayong subdistrict, they found a smashed Toyota Corolla pinned to a power poll on the median strip and a white passenger van on its side nearby.

The pole supporting the traffic light was also toppled and the intersection was covered with debris from the high-speed crash.

Passengers in the van said the driver, Thanawat Waharak, was driving from Phuket to Haad Yai when the van lost its brakes a few hundred meters from the intersection.

He was unable to control the vehicle as it entered the intersection and slammed into the passenger car driven by Miss Sasinee Na Phattalung.

Miss Sasinee, owner of a print shop in Phattalung Province, was just pulling out of the intersection when the light turned green, witnesses said.

All of the injured were rushed to Trang Hospital, where doctors where unable to save Miss Sasinee’s mother, 66-year-old Jaruwan Na Phattalung, who was riding in the front passenger’s seat.

Also badly injured were the van’s driver Mr Thanawat and two of his passengers, identified as Netnapa Chootrang and Somsak Kritpipat.

Trang Police will investigate the case further and file charges after the injured driver can be questioned.

— News editor