PHUKET, THAILAND – Two heavy crashes have shaken the holiday island within hours. In Patong, a Moroccan tourist was hit and injured by a pickup. In Kamala, a Thai motorcyclist lost control on a curve and died.
The fatal fall happened on July 29 around 6:27 pm on Kamala Road in Soi 16. Wittaya Phromring, 48, was riding his Honda Click on a sloping curve when he left the road and slammed into a concrete drainage ditch.
Witness tells how biker died
A female witness driving ahead told police Wittaya was going too fast. He apparently tried to brake the bike by putting his foot down before he lost control.
Rescue workers took the body to Patong Hospital. Relatives have been informed.
Pedestrian in Patong hit by pickup
Just hours later, on July 30 around 4:40 am, the next incident happened on Phra Metta Road in Patong. Mouad Salhi, a 30-year-old Moroccan national, was walking along the edge of the road when police say he stepped in front of a pickup.
At the wheel was 46-year-old Phuket resident Chana Thamwichai.
Mouad Salhi suffered injuries and is being treated at Patong Hospital. Investigators are now reviewing video footage from the area to clarify the exact sequence of the crash.
Road death toll on Phuket keeps climbing
These two incidents are not isolated cases. The Provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office (DDPM Phuket) has recorded 106 traffic fatalities on the island since the start of the year.
A further 16,360 people have been injured. The fall in Kamala and the collision in Patong are the latest entries in a long series of crashes that claim lives on Phuket’s roads every year.