“The investigation is still ongoing,” Lt Col Thada Sodarak of the Chalong Police, the investigating officer for the accident, told The Phuket News.
The driver of the car, Sudapon Nontawat, made the deadly U-turn near the entrance to Land & Houses Park Phuket on Chao Fa West Rd at 11:30pm on Nov 29.
The tourist riding the motorbike, 26-year-old Amine Halimi from Algeria, was unable to avoid the collision. Mr Halimi and his passenger, Turkish-Dutch dual national Zehre Yalcinkaya, both died in the impact. (See story here.)
The Phuket-registered Toyota Camry that Sudapon was driving was still bearing red ‘dealership’ licence plates at the time of the accident. Under Thai law it is illegal drive a vehicle with such licence plates after dark or out of the province.
Photos from the scene of the accident also show that Sudapon was making an illegal U-turn across a double-yellow centre line when the accident happened.
Sudapon later confessed to “driving carelessly”, Col Thada confirmed. (See story here.)
However, Col Thada has now confirmed that no application has been submitted to the Phuket Prosecutor’s Office to formally press charges for the accident.
“I am still waiting for relatives of the foreign victims to send a lawyer to clear everything about compensation for the deaths. I have informed to their embassies but I have not yet received a reply.
“When that is done I can complete my part in this case,” he said.
Col Thada added that blood-alcohol tests on both Sudapon and the foreign victims have now been returned to the Chalong Police.
“Blood tests conducted by the Office of Forensic Science in Surat Thani show that Mr Amine and Ms Zehre both had blood alcohol concentrations above the limit, but that the blood alcohol concentration for Ms Sudapon was not,” he said.