School owner among 11 killed in horror van crash
A BANGKOK school flew the national flag at half-mast yesterday to mourn the death of 11 people, including the school owner, who died in a road accident on Friday night.
Their van overturned and caught fire on the Bangkok-bound motorway in Chon Buri’s Muang district, leaving 11 of the occupants dead and four others injured. Almost all of them were teachers from Koom Klao Scholar School in Min Buri in Bangkok.
The school asked for help from the media to help locate the sole relative of Philippine teacher Babylyn B Perea, who was one of those killed in the accident.
Grief-stricken relatives collected most of the bodies at Chon Buri Hospital morgue.
School owner Krissana Kuanprasert’s son Khomthanu Kuanprasert, 24, who took Krissana’s body, vowed to follow his father’s goal in trying to make the school successful.
School caretaker Kwanreuthai Jatithesa said she and three teachers did not join the day trip because they were preparing for a merit-making event at the school today and thus escaped the tragedy.
She said the trip was Krissana’s idea, that once they had 100 students, he would take staff to visit Rayong province for a day.
The van was travelling back from Rayong with 15 people onboard when it hit a motorway barrier in Chon Buri’s Muang district at around 9pm.
Police investigating the cause of the accident suspect the driver of the van lost control, before it hit the barrier and overturned after one of its tyres burst.
Four injured women, including driver Natchaya Kulchon, were able to get out of the van before the vehicle caught fire, killing the rest of the passengers who were trapped inside. The deceased were identified as: Kulthida Yothee, Ampa Horasit, Yaowalak Ouitrakul, Babylyn B Perea, Waraporn Khonkaew, Nanthipak Thanjirathinanant, Krissana Kuanprasert, eight-year-old pupil Kanyapak Khonkaew, Nuanchan Wichaita, Rassamee Suparassameesakul and Lekha Tohsalae.
Nuanchan and Rassamee were executives from St Neo Srichondaan School, who had joined the trip.
Doctors did not allow police to interview the four injured – three in Chularat Hospital and the other in Chon Buri Hospital – till late yesterday, Pol Lt-Colonel Supakij Ko-ngam, of the regional highway police, said.
Police did not initially find any trace of an explosion at the gas tank installed in the rear of the van and witnesses have said the fire appeared to start in the front. So, police would get experts to check on the vehicle, Supakij said.
In related news, Nikorn Chamnong, chairman of the ad-hoc reform steering committee on road safety, said yesterday the committee’s study results would be unveiled tomorrow, including information to back claims that vans are not suitable for public transport.
Nikorn said vans were dangerous because they only had one door for passengers to get in and out. As in this case in Chon Buri, if a van turned over and the side door side was on the road, passengers would be trapped and any effort to rescue people would be difficult.
If vans were fitted with a natural gas system or powered by petrol, there was a high risk of the vehicle catching fire and passengers being killed, he said. Details from the panel’s study, plus road safety strategies, would be put to the government and related agencies tomorrow, he added.
