Phuket teenager dead and five-year-old fighting for life after road crash

PHUKET: A four-motorbike collision left one boy dead and a family of three injured in Phuket this morning. None of the injured were wearing helmets, including a five-year-old girl now fighting for her life in hospital with massive head trauma and broken limbs.

The accident took place at about 7:30am on Soi Nanachart Borrae, off Sakdidet Road near Phuket Town.

Lt Col Thada Sodarat of the Phuket City Police identified the deceased as 15-year-old Weerapon Bootsra, a native of Phang Nga who lived on Kamorapat Road in Phuket Town.

Weerapon died of massive head injuries sustained when his vehicle crashed into that of the other victims: Wilai Kasirask, 28; her husband Ratana Wimolchai, 30; and their daughter Kantawan, five.

All three suffered head injuries and Kantawan apparently also suffered multiple broken bones.

Onlookers immediately called the 1669 emergency services line, but by the time they arrived, about half an hour later, Weerapon had died on the pavement.

Local residents rushed Kantawan to hospital.

Initial investigation revealed that the collision started when the motorbike ridden by Mrs Wilai’s family crashed into a third motorbike ridden by a man who quickly fled the scene on foot when he saw the casualties.

He may have been Burmese, Lt Col Thada said.

A fourth rider, on a black motorbike, also fled the scene, he added.

Weerapon’s death is the seventh motorbike fatality in the province since Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban was on the island last month to promote the island-wide “100% helmet use” campaign.

Of the seven dead, four were not wearing helmets.

Before the start of the campaign, motorbike accidents had been killing 20 to 30 people a month in Phuket.

— Yodsak Jarana