Young Australian dies in Phuket motorbike crash

WICHIT, PHUKET: A young Australian man died just before dawn on Saturday morning when his motorcycle crashed at high speed on Chao Fa West Road.

Inspector Yongyuth Kongmarai of Phuket City Police identified the deceased as 20-year-old Kain Bonow, an Australian national and long-time resident of Phuket.

Police and rescue workers from the nearby Phuket Ruamjai Kupai Foundation responded to an emergency call reporting the accident at 5:30am on Saturday morning.

The crash happened outside the Sala Bua Mansion apartments, not far from the Wang Talang jewelry shop on Chao Fa West Road southbound.

Police were initially unable to find any identification on the victim.

An unnamed image of the deceased was carried on the front page of a local newspaper on the morning of the following day.

From an examination of the crash scene, it appeared that Mr Bonow was riding his motorcycle at very high speed and was unable to negotiate a curve.

“I don’t think Mr Bonow had drunk any alcohol, but he was riding very fast at the time of the crash. Witnesses reported hearing a loud backfire from the tailpipe followed by the sound of the motorbike crashing,” said Lt Col Yongyuth.

Based on the fact that the vehicle slid at least 60 meters after the initial impact, Lt Col Yongyuth estimated that Mr Bonow was riding at about 120 kilometers per hour at the time.

It was not raining and police did not find a motorcycle helmet at the scene, he said.

The cause of death appeared not to have been head trauma, but the force of impact of the motorbike’s steering column on Mr Bonow’s abdomen. Mr Bonow suffered a compound fracture to his hip bone and massive trauma to his internal organs.

“He has lived with his mom in Phuket for a long time and spoke perfect Thai. I have met and spoken with him before. His mom told me he had been a student at the Rawai Progressive International School,” said Lt Col Yongyuth.

Kain’s mother, Kim Bonow, later identified her son’s remains at Vachira Phuket Hospital and was inconsolable from the loss, he said.

Sources told the Gazette that Ms Bonow was actually the founder of the the Rawai Progressive International School, which offers a Montessori curriculum for children aged three to 12. She is also proprietor of the Shanti Lodge hotel in Chalong.

Bathing rites are taking place at Wat Luttiwanaram in Chalong.

— Khunakorn Terdkiatkhachorn