Just one day after the deadline for the Bypass Road construction was further extended a fatal traffic accident has taken place on one of the roads currently under construction. Two cars crashed on Thursday night on Phra Phuket Kaew Road causing the death of 42-year-old airport limousine driver, Surachai Temchuen. He died before arrival at hospital, his two Australian passengers are badly injured but now in a stable condition.

The two passengers, Edward Shink and Rosemary Perkins, are both Australian tourists aged 19 years old. They are being treated for their injuries at Bangkok Phuket Hospital. After the initial investigation, Pol Maj Pasakorn Sontikul told Phuket Post that Surachai was driving the two passengers from Phuket International Airport to CS Hotel in Karon at 7.50 pm last night. The driver of a BMW lost control after trying to overtake a pick up truck and entered the opposing lane where he hit the limousine head on.

The police believe that the BMW was speeding and lost control. After the accident the driver was charged with careless driving and causing the death of another person. The penalty for this crime is a maximum of ten years in jail, a fine of 20,000 baht or both.

No blame has been apportioned to the delayed construction of the roads as of yet although poor lighting, merging lanes and lack of signs could be used as a defence by the driver of the BMW.