Three dead as family car returning from Vegetarian Festival slams into tree

PHUKET: Three people are dead and a mother and her two children are in hospital after the car they were traveling home in from the Phuket Vegetarian Festival slammed into a tree late yesterday afternoon.

Duty officer Eakkaphob Phoothong of the Takua Thung Police in Phang Nga received a report of the accident at about 4pm.

At the scene, about 500 meters from the Phang Nga Agriculture and Technology College on Phetkasem Road, officers found the driver, Thossaphol Kong-Nguen, 33, dead behind the wheel.

Two of his passengers, Mrs Wichien Makaew and Mrs Fongnual Kong-Nguen, also died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.

Rescue workers from the Phu Nga Foundation and the Wat Kao Charoenthum Foundation cut the survivors – Mr Thossaphol’s wife, Somsuda Makaew, 32 and their 2-year-old daughter Chaleomsri and 10-month-old son Thanaphat – from the vehicle and rushed them to Phang Nga Hospital in Phang Nga Town.

“The family were traveling home to Surat Thani after attending the Vegetarian Festival in Phuket when the accident occurred,” said Lt Eakkaphob.

Police told the Phuket Gazette they believe the car was traveling at a high speed when it hit a tree in the middle of the median strip that separates traffic flow along the busy highway.

— Kritsada Mueanhawong