At 1:15pm, Tahchatchai Investigator, Lt Col Watcharin Jiratikarnwiwat, received a call to investigate an accident where a mini-van had overturned on the central reservation of Baan Meang Mai – Airport Rd, about 350 metres from Thalang Technical College.
Upon arrival at the scene, police and rescue workers saw the wrecked Phuket registered Toyota mini-van belonging to the Persona Travel Company.
The van crashed on a curved part of the road and taking out a lamp post in the process.
The three injured French tourists have all been taken to Thalang Hospital. One had suffered a broken leg, one a broken arm and the other only minor injuries.
The victims were later named as Yassine Bouhou, 31, Frank Andre Alfred Leguelle, 33, and Sertac Akkurt, 26.
The van driver, Piboon Uthairangsi, 42, from Pattalung, said he picked up the three tourists from Patong and was on his way to drop them off at Phuket International Airport. He was not injured in the crash.
“I lost the control of the vehicle on the bend when my the right tyre burst. The van flipped in the air and landed on the central reservation,” he said.
Police took the van and driver to Thachatchai station and the driver faces possible charges of reckless driving.