Teerarak Suthathiwong
Pattaya police have set up a fund to cover medical expenses for one
of 10 Russian tourists injured in a collision between their baht bus and a
pickup truck whose driver became a fugitive after fleeing the scene.
Police
are looking for Nattaporn Klinhom, 20, for crashing his white Chevrolet
Colorado into the back of a parked songthaew around 10 p.m. Dec. 1 on
Sukhumvit Road near the Soi Chaiyapruek intersection.
Nattaporn Klinhom, 20, is being sought for crashing his white Chevrolet
Colorado into the back of a parked pickup-truck taxi around 10 p.m. Dec. 1
on Sukhumvit Road near the Soi Chaiyapruek intersection. He fled the scene,
leaving both his truck and two injured passengers behind.
Police searched his local address and registered home in Ayutthaya, but have
yet to locate him.
Baht bus driver Apichai Kwanmuang, 56, said he was waiting at a red light
when the Colorado smashed into the back of the songthaew. Ten Russians he
was taking back to the Ambassador City Hotel were hurt, with some thrown
from the truck and one, Mikhail Kuznetsov, 27, nearly losing a leg. He had
been standing near the back platform that was destroyed in the crash.
Three Thais, including a motorcyclist, also were injured in the crash.
Kuznetsov’s wife, 27-year-old Elena Naydina, went to the Pattaya Police
Station with an interpreter and Russian cameraman to put pressure on
authorities to capture Nattaporn and provide compensation for the crash.
Naydina said her husband was hospitalized and underwent surgery at Bangkok
Hospital Pattaya, with medical bills already totaling more than 455,000
baht. She had paid 300,000 baht, but was short the rest. The Interior
Ministry’s newly formed Tourist Assistance Foundation had donated only
10,000 baht.
Pattaya police superintendent Pol. Col. Supathee Bungkhrong updated her on
the status of the investigation and said police would set up a fund for
people to make donations to cover the medical bills.
