Double decker tourist bus on route from Roi Et from Bangkok crashes, killing 19 and another 20 injured.

This style of bus was involved in the crash.

BANGKOK: Nineteen people were killed and 20 hurt Tuesday when a double decker coach collided with a truck in central Thailand and burst into flames, authorities said.

"Altogether there are 19 dead -- 18 died at the scene and another one died at the hospital," said an official from the national institute for emergency medicine in Bangkok, who asked not to be named.

She added that 20 people were injured in the early morning crash in central Saraburi province.

The inter-province bus, which was travelling from Bangkok to Roi Et in the northeast of the country, caught fire after the crash.

Images from Thai television news showed the extent of the damage to the vehicle, which appeared to have been completely incinerated and reduced to its metal shell.

Authorities said the crash was a head-on collision involving three vehicles.

Police have arrested the driver of the cement truck, who they said appeared to have lost control of his vehicle just before the incident.

"The truck crossed from the opposite lane of traffic and hit the bus," said local police officer Lieutenant Colonel Assavathep Janthanari, adding that a pickup truck behind the bus had also been involved in the crash.

He said the dead and injured were from the coach and the pickup truck.

It was not immediately clear how many people had been travelling in the coach.

Witthichart Kallayanamitr, director of the company under the ministry of transport which owns the bus, said its normal capacity would have been 32 people.

Safety standards are often poor in Thailand and transport accidents are relatively common.

Earlier this month an overnight sleeper train travelling from Bangkok to the northern city of Chiang Mai derailed injuring 23 people, including 18 foreign tourists.

In April, at least five people were killed, including a seven-month-old baby and a Belgian woman, and 53 were injured when a Thai tour bus plummeted off a hillside in northern Phitsanulok province after its brakes failed. (AFP)

  

Founded by: Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman

  

 

 

Crutches are evil -

Looks like I'll really will be  in the states longer than my original plan.  Got through the heart pre check up with my cardiologist and received his clearance for surgery to get my hip replaced. Though I'm also going to have a nuclear test on the effectiveness of my heart arteries but guess they think all is ok because they've scheduled for the surgery on the 31 of this month (July).  Guess a total hip replacement is the only way to deal with AVN (avascular necrosis) the problem that causing all this trouble and pain

Decided on dr Paul Sasaura of Summit Otho to do the job.. He seems like a pretty sharp cookie, using the new, up today, minimal invasive technique.  A small incision about 2 inches square and then once inside he works to minimize the trauma induced to the tissue surrounding the bone with the help of a computer map.    

Still working on some new Vietnam stuff along with Cambodia and it's national election next week.

Anyway,folks if you're anything like me (over 65) don't push too hard on those work outs. 

Doug

A few photos of Angkor Wat, hometown of the Khmer empire, built around 900 AD - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Always thinking of you
Doug

                 

From the needle in Saigon to California on crutches

Okay, acupuncture, physical therapy, stretching regimen, light exercise and don't even think of moving were all things recommended by Doctors to repair my damaged leg I hurt while working out in Saigon. Meanwhile, I've been in pain and barely able to walk for going on four months.  Also to my consternation doctors look at me and my white hair then seem to lose interest in doctoring, relegating me to the group of over the hill guys not worth their time. They don't really say that but since my injury the traditional Chinese herbal and acupuncture doc was the only one that came up with a treatment plan except for the crutches which Dr Shea sports medicine specialist at Mercy Medical Group prescribed to keep my weight off the leg in the hope it would heal itself.

Though it’s interesting that Dr Shea's strategy came to pass as a result of my complaints about the failure of physical therapy to improve my condition and was more of a shot from the hip (no pun intended) than a real plan. Waiting in one of those little exam rooms for an hour as they looked for the results of my MRI report, once found, minutes pass, he mumbles about the sad state of my hip and something about a hip replacement to fix it. I add that I had been running/walking 2 – 3 miles a day for as long as I can remember and this is my first problem but I add I'm still in pain but not as bad as it was. So the injury seems to be slowly improving but it’s so slow I'm getting depressed. All this as he is trying to slip out the door and over his shoulder he tells to keep my weight off of it and use crutches and would leave a note with the receptionist referring me to a surgeon and he was gone. His referrals first opening was months away but after I made a scene in the reception area they found another doc with a sooner opening but still a couple weeks away, not good but better.

Meanwhile, I'm conflicted over this whole deal, they are talking hip replacement and as I said I had never experienced any problem before until this latest injury. Even then the pain wasn't really in the hip but generally in the upper part of my leg. Nobody wants to hear my explanation of where it hurt when I injured it so have had an MRI and ex-ray of the hip and from this they all say my hip is warn, arthritis they say. They are probably correct about a warn hip and arthritis but up until the injury I had no problems with it. Doctors I fear have become just parts changers like auto mechanics and feel doctoring just takes too much time and time is money.

Meanwhile, I'm here in California but have a lot of stuff to write about on Vietnam. So please follow me and become a member.

Doug