Under the cloak of darkness and with streetlights not working, a fatal mishap occurred at the notorious Don Khee junction on the Nong Bua Lamphu town bypass. A local 37-year-old motorcyclist, Songkran, also known as “Kan Janjunjerm”, was tragically killed barely a kilometre short from his home.
After an alert from the Nong Bua Lamphu Rescue Unit, Police Captain Kamplaeng Chaiyarin, an investigator from the Nong Bua Lamphu Police Station, rushed to the scene. Grappling with the suddenness of the loss, Songkran’s family was left to pick up the shattered pieces of a life once filled with joy and promise.
The crash site was a chaotic spectacle; Songkran’s lifeless body was wedged under a black Ford Ranger pickup truck. The immobilised vehicle, a Bangkok-registered Ford Ranger, found itself marooned in the middle of the road, unable to advance, a good 50 metres near the perilous intersection whose reputation for fatal accidents was nearing legendary proportions. KhaoSod reported that a crashed Yamaha Fino motorbike, painted in shades of purple and white, lay abandoned just five meters away from the deceased.
The late motorcyclist’s sister recounted his last journey; Songkran was homeward-bound from Don Som Hong, Nong Phai Soon, Mueang Nong Bua Lamphu. The ill-fated accident had cruelly struck a mere 1 kilometer from the sanctuary of his home.
Behind the wheel of the ill-fated pickup truck was Rattanaporn Koonsuk, a resident of Sawang Daen Din, Sakon Nakhon province. She was en route to her work destination in the Chiang Mai province when disaster struck out of nowhere. Rattanaporn said she struggled to see anything due to the deficient lighting conditions when Songkran, on his motorbike, appeared unexpectedly, hurtling towards her.
A witness, a noodle vendor situated near the intersection, narrated his version; he saw the motorcyclist coming and assumed he would stop, but instead, he made a sudden swerve, leading to the fatal collision with the speeding pickup truck. Adding to the severity of the situation, the intersection’s lights were out that night, cloaking the area in near darkness.
Helpers from the hospital‘s medical team managed to extricate the deceased’s body trapped under the pickup truck. A shattered mother had to be consoled by her daughter on learning that her only son was no more.
An initial examination revealed a broken neck, and multiple fractures in the left arm and leg, attributing to the immediate death of the victim. Shockingly, the body had been dragged along the road causing the clothes to rip apart and revealing a myriad of tattoos covering most of his body.
Post-crash screenings were conducted on both the deceased and the pickup driver to determine the alcohol content in their blood. Both vehicles were further taken to the Mueang Police Station for further examinations. The body of the deceased was handed over to the grieving family to conduct the customary rituals. So ended a night that none in the Nong Bua Lamphu town will forget in a hurry.
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