NEW LOGO
Friday, November 25 – Thursday, December 1, 2011
www.thephuketnews.com
100 72 0 32
0 100 100 0
20 Baht
INSIDE
0 35 100 0
OLD LOGO Back in Wales, ‘Tommo’ makes rapid recovery.
P3
Bangkok flood taxi.
100 100 40 50
0 100 100 0
P7
0 35 100 0
DEATH BEND Vice Governor Somkiat Sangkaosuttirak (left with megaphone) discusses the problem with locals. By blocking the road, they held all the aces.
Mob of 400 block main road after two die in smash on killer curve Temporary barriers were installed this week down the centre of the southbound lane of Phuket’s main artery, Thepkrasattree Rd, where it passes the village of Baan Khor Ane. T he action follows a blockade of the southbound carriageway by Khor Ane villagers on Sunday night (November 20) in protest at the high number of accidents on the bend, in which, they say, many villagers have died or been injured. Their frustration boiled over when a crash between
a motorbike and a pickup truck on the bend late Sunday afternoon left Malai Kaewkleuan, 47, dead and another woman and her small son critically injured. Three-year-old son Anupong Sae’oo, died of his injuries on Monday. His mother, Saijai Boontang, 31, remains in Thalang hospital with severe injuries. In addition to erecting the barrier to separate the fast lane from the small road which emerges from the village and from village homes along the
edge of Thepkrasattree Rd, the authorities will also set up a police checkpoint just to the north of the bend by today (November 25), in an effort to slow the traffic. The villagers, however, have not been easy to satisfy, especially after another accident occurred in the same place on Monday morning between a 10-wheel truck and a car. Fortunately, no one was injured that time. Debate continues to rage as to the most effective solution – an attempt three years ago
in which the entire bend was moved away from the village at a cost of B15 million, failed to make it any safer. Vice-Governor Somkiat Sangkaosuttirak and the Deputy Director of Phuket Department of Highways (DoH) Pramote Pirat warned that the temporary fix demanded by the villagers would not necessarily make things any less dangerous. The authorities promised to meet the demands of the furious villagers, who threatened to block the road
again, possibly in both directions, if there was no action from authorities. At an emergency meeting on Monday morning at Provincial Hall, Mr Pramote proposed that, as a temporary solution, a concrete-and-cones barrier be installed between the two lanes of the southbound carriageway, and the barrier around the outside of the bend be extended, in order to keep traffic from ploughing into the village. Continued page 2
McLaren to be fast from the start next season.
P42
PLUS Hot Topic P11 Business P12-14 Arts P15 People P16 Health P18 Shopping P23 Dining P24-25 Travel P26-27 Weird World P30 Events P32-33 Jobs P34 Classifieds P35-38 Sport P39-44
www.thephuketnews.com