Lt Col Sarit Butnongsang of the Tha Chatchai Police noted that when officers arrived at the scene, at the notorious Ban Ko En curve on Thepkrasattri Rd, they found a crowd of villagers gathered around a silver Isuzu D-Max that had a shattered windscreen.
“There were skid marks for about 15 metres behind the pickup truck,” Col Sarit said.
“On the road in front of the pickup was the body of a man, who had no ID on him. The man had suffered severe head trauma and a broken arm. He smelled of alcohol and a broken bottle of alcohol was in one of his pockets,” Col Sarit added.
Police also found a phone in the man’s pockets and called the most recently dialled number. “That is how we learned the man was from Myanmar,” Col Sarit explained.
“We then managed to get in contact with a friend, who confirmed that the man was known as “Sar Oo”. He was 42 years old,” he added.
Mr Sar Oo’s body was taken to Thalang Hospital.
Anucha Theprak, 31, who is driving a car told police that he and his mother were heading back to Phang Nga when the accident happened.
“My mother and I came from Phang Nga to Phuket to buy building materials,” he said.
“We were heading back to Phang Nga and following behind a bus, and the man just ran out in front of us. I braked as hard as I could, but it was too late,” Mr Anucha added.
However, police will investigate further, Col Sarit said.
The curve at Ban Ko En gained a notorious reputation after years of deadly accidents, including several high-speed wipeouts, which resulted in the government spending millions of baht to reduce the sharp angle of the curve and install a battery of speed bumps and other measures to get drivers to reduce speed at the accident blackspot.