British man dies in Phuket motorbike accident

British man dies in Phuket motorbike accident

A British tourist has been killed in a motorbike accident in Patong.

The accident happened at around 5.15am yesterday, June 5, in front of Patong Police Station on Phra Metta Road (third road). Officers on the scene found a black, Phuket-registered pickup truck, which had sustained damage to its front. The Burmese driver, named as Yan Paing Soe, was uninjured.

Sitting in the road alongside a blue and black Honda bike registered in Nakhon Si Thammarat was a Thai man named as Anusorn Mungmamat. He was wearing a full-face helmet and was taken to Patong Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Also at the scene was a British man, the driver of a Phuket-registered Honda motorbike. He had sustained serious injuries and was rushed to Patong Hospital. He was subsequently pronounced dead.

When questioned by officers, Mr Anusorn and Mr Yan Paing Soe stated that they’d been driving along Phra Metta Road towards Patong Hospital when they encountered the British motorbike rider coming towards them on the wrong side of the road.

It’s understood the British man first struck Mr Anusorn’s motorbike, then hit the pickup truck being driven by Mr Yan Paing Soe.

The police have launched an investigation to verify the statements given and are liaising with the British embassy. The dead man’s name has been withheld pending his family being notified.

Data from the Thai RSC, the national road safety agency, shows that so far this year, 79 people have died and another 11,213 have been injured in road traffic accidents in Phuket.