28 Killed In Coach Fire.

At least 28 passengers killed when a coach was caught on fire


A packed Bangkok-bound coach was caught on fire on Tuesday in Nakhon Ratchasima province, burning to death at least 28 passengers.

The 40-seat bus left Yasothon at about 5am and its break system broke down as it approached Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district.

When the problem was fixed, it continued its ride. However the engine was caught on fire, when it went downhill.

The fire raged to passengers' compartment and burnt to death 28 passengers.

The Nation

At least 28 killed in bus accident

(BangkokPost.com) - At least 28 people were burnt to death and 13 others injured when a passenger bus routing from Yasothon to Bangkok fell off the road and caught on fire in Saraburi province Tuesday.

The air-conditioned bus of Sa-ngaun Yanyon company lost control when it was on Mitr-traparp Road in Muak Lek district, Saraburi, at around 3 p.m., police said. After the bus fell off the road, it was caught on fire.

The flame occurred so suddenly that it provided no time for most passengers to escape.

When rescue units arrived at the scene, they found 28 burnt bodies including the bus driver, police said. More than 33 others were injured and rushed to Muak Lek hospital.

Before the bus caught on fire, it was reportedly had some problems with the break, causing the driver to park the bus to fix the problem before resuming the trip. Police suspected that the break might have been the cause of the fire.

Fiery bus company parked for a week

(BangkokPost.com) - The Transport Company Wednesday temporarily suspended the operation of the bus company whose bus went up in flames and killed 29 passengers on Tuesday in Muak Lek district.

Sa-nguan Yan Yon Co received an order to suspend its operation for one week, following the bus crash that left 31 people injured.

Relatives of the deceased receive 400,000 baht while those of the injured get 250,000 baht per person from an insurance company.

Meanwhile, Siriraj Hospital, where the bodies have been kept, allowed relatives of only seven deceased passengers to take the corpses back as the relatives could identify the corpse from their jewellry, mobile phones or other identifications.

There are two bodies that were so badly burnt that the hospital couldn't identify even the gender. Police plan to conduct autopsies in order to establish identity.

It was an old vehicle

The bus that caught fire and plunged off the road and into a bank on Tuesday in Saraburi, killing 29 passengers, had been in use for 36 years, a senior public transport official said yesterday.

Banthoon Yuwawat, chief of the pubic transport office in Ubon Ratchathani where the bus was registered, said Sri Sa-nguan Yanyont Co Ltd, which operated the Yasothon-Bangkok bus service, registered the vehicle in 1971.

Adul Boonthook, the driver who survived the accident, was a well-behaved man who would not have been driving in a reckless manner prior to the accident, said Sompong Thongphairoj, a fellow driver at the firm.

The firm said Adul, 35, was promoted to leading driver a year ago, after serving as a co-driver and initially as a bus attendant.

The accident left 29 passengers dead at the scene. One person died in hospital later. Another 35 people suffered from burns.

Police have not completed their investigation into
the accident or determined what was the cause of the fire.

A survivor was quoted as saying the fire came from underneath the bus, which could not stop as it went downhill because the brake system had failed.

Authority to get tough on bus firms

Following Tuesday's bus crash in Saraburi, the state-owned Transport Co, which operates the inter-city bus service, will "get tougher" on all bus companies and will give Bt10,000 initial assistance money to each of the victims' families, a senior official said yesterday.


Following talks with executives of Sri Sa-nguan Yanyont Co, Wuttichat Kanlayanamit, the managing director of the Transport Co, said he had ordered Sri Sanguan Yanyont to halt its Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani service for one week pending an investigation into the company's history and a check of its entire fleet of buses.


Piyapan Jampasut, deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Transport, will chair a Transport Co board meeting to consider punishment for the company. It may revoke the company's licence if it is shown to have a record of careless accidents in the past.


According to the initial investigation yesterday, the accident was caused by human error, as the driver reportedly knew the brakes failed to work properly but didn't ask the company to find a another bus to transport passengers.


Wuttichart said the Transport Co will initially pay Bt10,000 to each victim or their family. The victims will eventually receive compensation from the operator's insurance and the government amounting to Bt400,000 for each dead victim and Bt250,000 for each of the injured.

The director-general of the Department of Land Transport (DLT), Mr. Silapa-chai Charukasemratana , says all public transportation must go through a vehicle examination program.

With the rising number of bus accidents, Mr. Silapa says the people have lost confidence in taking public transportation. As a result, he affirms that all public buses have to go through a compulsory vehicle examination process.

However, people can inform authorities if they noticed unusual signs at the hotline number 1584.

As for the safety measures for people traveling back to their hometown during Songkran Festival, DLT already set the measures by providing road maps and setting up check points.

TRANSPORT SAFETY
30 passengers evacuated in bus fire

Khon Kaen accident echoes Saraburi tragedy that left 30 dead, 23 injured


All 30 passengers escaped unhurt after their bus caught fire in Khon Kaen yesterday, just days after a similar incident on a Bangkok-bound coach in Saraburi left 30 passengers dead and dozens injured.


The bus, travelling from Nakhon Ratchasima to Udon Thani, was passing through Khon Kaen's Ban Had sub-district on the Mitraparp Highway at 3.30pm when its engine caught fire. Fearing a repeat of the Saraburi mishap, the driver promptly pulled over and evacuated all the passengers safely.


Meanwhile, the president of the Private Bus Operators' Association, Sujinda Cherdchai, has objected to the Land Transport Department's proposal to retire buses after 10 years of use and to have them undergo checks every two years, which were made amid claims that the Saraburi accident was caused by mechanical problems arising from the bus's age.


Sujinda, the owner of Thailand's biggest bus-assembly garage, insisted that disposing of buses after only 10 years was not practical and conducting inspections every two years was unnecessary because operators already conducted regular checks. The greater number of checks would affect maintenance expenses and subsequently bus fares, she said.


Sujinda urged the department to inform the association of its proposed measures and organise a meeting of bus-operators nation-wide to discuss them.


While condoling with the victims' families, Sujinda said punishment should fall upon individuals. Her association will help pay the lawyers' fees in a lawsuit to demand compensation for the victims, she said.


Meanwhile, Nakhon Ratchasima transport official Anusorn Withurakorn said his office would tighten checks on the condition of buses and increase tests on drivers' blood-alcohol levels.


to prevent a reoccurrence of the tragedy, especially during the Songkran Festival next month. Buses that fail the checks will be suspended from service immediately, he said.


In an update on the 23 passengers injured in the Saraburi accident, the Public Health Ministry yesterday said eight critically wounded patients were stable but still suffering from fever and tissue death and being watched for infections.


Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital morgue has released 14 bodies to relatives.


Manee Buriram, who received the body of her 16-year-old son Wittaya yesterday, said she would not take him yet pending a search for her eight-year-old son Arthit, who has yet to be identified among the remaining 15 charred bodies.


Manee said she had been working in Bangkok and her two sons, who lived with their grandparents in Maha Sarakham, were to visit her during a school break. "I still can't believe that I've lost both my sons at once," she said.


Permanent Secretary of the Transport Ministry Chaisawat Kittipornpaiboon yesterday said that a meeting would be held on Monday to conclude the cause of the Saraburi accident. Authorities will then decide if Sri Sa-nguan Yanyont Co's concession should be revoked.


The bus company's services have been suspended for a week.


Piyapan Jampasut, deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Transport, said the company's four coaches on the Ubon Ratchathani-Bangkok route had no history of serious accidents. It had sent the ill-fated coach for a check-up on March 15, which showed it did not ignore safety issues, he said.


The company has already been found guilty of carrying about 60 passengers when the legal limit is 45, he said.


He added that the accident-probe findings and the bus company's fate would be announced on April 19 at the board meeting of Transport Co, the state-run body that oversees inter-provincial bus services nationwide.

BREAKING NEWS

Out of control bus kills one at red light

(BangkokPost.com) - One person was killed early Wednesday and at least 10 others injured when an air-conditioned city commuter bus careered through 14 cars stopped for a Bangkok red light, because the brakes failed.

Police said the accident took place at around 6 a.m. at the Sri Ayutthaya-Rama V intersection.

A No 72 bus of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority smashed into cars that were stopped at the red light, causing a pile-up.

The pile-up involved seven cars, five taxis, a pick-up and a van.

Boonsom Boonprasert, 57, was found dead in the van.

According to Somkid Chusripat, the driver, the bus was moving towards the intersection when the brakes failed, and he was unable to control the vehicle. He is now in police custody.

Thu, April 5, 2007 : Last updated 11:18 am (Thai local time)



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.
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.