Capt Charus Lemparn of the Wichit Traffic Police confirmed to The Phuket News today (Feb 20), “A bus crashed into a power pole on Chao Fa Tawan Tok Rd southbound in front of Wichitsongkram School, and close to the Darasamut Underpass, at 7 pm yesterday (Feb 19).
“It had just rained and the road was slippery, this is what caused the accident,” he said.
“This bus was carrying 10 Chinese tourists from the Naka Market area. The driver arrived at the scene and lost control causing him to crash into the power pole. Luckily he manged to avoid hitting another vehicle.
“It took one hour for the bus to be moved which caused some tailbacks. However, it was lucky that neither the driver nor the passengers were injured,” he added.
Meanwhile, just three hours 20 minutes after the bus incident, a Chinese man died after the motorbike he was riding slammed into a structural pylon that holds the overhead lane lights at the northbound entrance to the Darasamut Underpass.
Rescue workers along with Vachira Phuket Hospital medical staff arrived at the scene to find a Chinese national, named by Wichit Police as Zhang Shican, unconscious with no pulse.
Rescue workers provided a CPR at the scene before Mr Zhang was rushed to Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town, where he was pronounced dead at 10:53pm. (See story here.)
Correction: It was a "Phuket tour bus" that had the accident, not a "Phuket tour bush". The error is nearly regretted.