Fatal Accident

[Miruku]

My Thai brother in law told me that very recently a Udon to Ban Phu van/bus was hit by a truck and all 12 people aboard the bus were killed. Does any body know where the crash happened and what caused it? Many of my extended Thai family live along the route and commute by such vehicles but fortunately none of them was aboard.

[arjay]

I'm sorry, I don't know anything about exactly what happened or where, but I did see on TV reports and pictures of a number of accidents that happened in and around the Udon area. One of those did show about 10 or more bodies laid out in a row. Unfortunately, as it was a Thai TV station I couldn't understand what was being said, but I heard Chang Wat Udon Thani mentioned several times and Nong Khai once.

[valentine]

My Thai brother in law told me that very recently a Udon to Ban Phu van/bus was hit by a truck and all 12 people aboard the bus were killed. Does any body know where the crash happened and what caused it? Many of my extended Thai family live along the route and commute by such vehicles but fortunately none of them was aboard.

Hi Miruku, sorry for the delay in reply but there were many varying reports circulating which varied in the facts, so I didn't want to post unless I was accurate. The following info has been taken directly from the police report, thereforeI believe it to be basically true.
The accident was between a 10 wheel truck, towing an 8 wheel trailer and an Isuzu mini bus 12 seater. The bus was coming from Udon and the truck from Ban Phou. They collided head on, on the narrow road off the Nong KHai highway to Ban Phou. The Isuzu registration number was 10-5559. It was part of a regular service between Udon and Ban Phou that operated several different types of vehicles including cars and somteils.All the passengers boarded in Udon. A witness reported the sip lor was being driven erracticaly by the driver of the car following, an off duty policeman.
The 12 persons in the minibus were killed instantly, mostly with tremendous head injuries. Amongst the passengers were a 4 year old girl and a 19 year old pregnant girl. In the cab of the siplor were the drivers family, wife and daughter, they were seriously injured and taken to Paolo hospital, where they have since died, making 15 fatalities in all.Most of the passengers in the bus were aged in their twenties with the exception of a lady school teacher who was 46.Of note, she had been to a bank in udon where she had borrowed 40,000baht against her land paper. The bank confirmed this but the money was never recovered from the crash site, her handbag was empty.
If you have a particular concern about a possible passenger I do have a full list but of course it is in Thai and to try and translate on here may cause confusion owing to the difficulty in spelling, but if you Pm me I will try and obtain further details for you.
I hope you don't have contacts in this tragedy and it goes without saying my condolences goes to relatives and friends of the victims.