Man dies as bus crashes into 20 vehicles
Rescuers extricate passengers from a van that was among 20 vehicles involved in the accident on Sri Ayutthaya Road in downtown Bangkok yesterday morning.
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An air-conditioned city bus crashed into 20 vehicles at a downtown Bangkok stoplight yesterday morning, killing one man and injuring several others.
A No 72 Euro II bus on the Klong Toei-Thewet route reportedly developed a brake problem and slammed into seven cars, seven taxis, three pickup trucks, two passenger vans and a six-wheel truck waiting for a red light at the Sri Ayutthaya-Rama V junction at 5.45am. Somboon Prasert, 57, a van passenger, was killed while 11 other passengers were rushed to nearby hospitals. Eight patients were allowed to go home, but three remained under close medical attention. Bus driver Somkid Chusripat, 48, who told police that he was driving at high speed when the brakes failed, was charged with manslaughter and property damage, said Major Akkachai Srirahong from Dusit police station. An investigation was opened to determine the cause of the accident - malfunctioning brakes or reckless driving, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Pinet Puapatanakul, director of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, which operates the metropolitan bus system, said the agency was sorry for what happened and would provide financial aid to the victims as necessary, on top of insurance payouts. He said the BMTA carried out coach inspections on a daily basis, but an accident happened, and he had already ordered mechanics to rush check-ups of all BMTA buses. Suwana Suwanjutha, director-general of the Justice Ministry's rights and liberties protection department, said the injured and the family of the deceased passenger could file for compensation with the Criminal Court, because the accident involved recklessness. Department officials would meet with the victims to take up their cases, she said. The collision came just two weeks after an inter-provincial bus caught fire and plummeted down a mountain road in the central province of Saraburi when its brakes failed, burning 29 people to death and injuring dozens. That catastrophe revived the long-standing issue of old buses that are kept in circulation despite the dangers they pose to passengers.
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