Minivan driver Jamrit Aryusuk, 36, and female Chinese tourist Yu Wae, 28, perished when the minivan heading from Phuket collided with an 18-wheeled truck in Tha Noon, Takua Thung District, just over the bridge from Phuket to the mainland, at about 9am yesterday. (See story here.)
Three Chinese tourists were initially reported as sustaining serious injuries in the impact, with seven in total taken to Bangkok Hospital Phuket for treatment, as follows:
- Rui Jin, 30, suffered wounds on her forehead;
- Zhicheng Zheng, 30, suffered a five-centimetre cut on his right leg and small cut on his left foot;
- Meihui Zhou, 35, suffered a large gash on his right arm, a small cut on his right ear and a small cut on his right arm;
- Yanling Mao, 24, is suffering from neck and back pain and has scratches on her right leg;
- Tuhao Zhu, 31, suffered a cut on the back of his neck;
- Mengzhen Guo, 30, suffered a cut on her tongue and her lower lip, a cut on her right knee, and is experiencing shoulder pain;
- Jun Lei, 28, has pain on his right knee and scratches on both legs.
A report filed by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department yesterday noted that two – not three – of the tourists had “serious injuries, but did not identify which tourists those were.
However, it did note that medical staff were provided proper medical treatment.
Governor Norraphat encouraged the injured tourists to recover soon. He also asked doctors and medical staff to take close care of the injured in order to make a good impression and to boost confidence in Phuket’s ability to take care of tourists.
Gov Norraphat asked the Phuket police and officials from the Phuket Provincial Office of Tourism and Sports to arrange the return of belongings of the dead and injured from the accident, and to help the injured contact their relatives.
Khok Kloi Police returned the tourists’ belongings to their relative at Bangkok Hospital Phuket, the report noted.
“We will discuss about Phuket accident safety and protection. We will increase more measures to solve the problem,” Gov Norraphat said.
“We will suggest that the government issue a law to control how long (how many years) that buses and other public transportation vehicles can be used to transport tourists,” he added.
Joining Gov Norraphat for his visit were Director of the Phuket Provincial Office of Tourism & Sports Sirawee Waloh along with Ma Cuihong, who as Deputy Consul-General of the Consulate General of China in Songkhla also heads the Phuket Consular Office of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, and Bangkok Hospital Phuket Deputy Director Dr Lalita Kongsriha.
Ms Ma said, “Thank you to Phuket officials for taking good care of Chinese tourists. I would like to offer my condolences to the driver’s family for their loss.
“However, in the coming Songkran Festival more Chinese tourists will visit Phuket. I hope that they will be provided good facilities and good care in terms of safety.”