STRANDED TOURISTS KILLED ON ROADS
SUPAPONG CHAOLAN
The body of a Hong Kong government official killed in a car accident on Monday while travelling by car to Phuket to catch a flight home was flown back to the Chinese city yesterday.
David Yick Hok-wing, 49, a British national, was killed in a van accident in Surat Thani. His wife, Arisnan Yick, also known as Fung Man-wai, who was injured in the accident, accompanied the body.
The body of Swedish tourist, Eva Catharina Meille, 33, who died in a Chumphon hospital after a car accident is expected to be sent home soon.
Meille was travelling with a friend in a taxi they chartered from Bangkok to Songkhla, hoping to travel on to Malaysia. The taxi ran off the road on a highway in Chumphon's Lang Suan district on Sunday night.
Staff from the Swedish embassy will collect her body in a couple of days.
Yick was identified by the South China Morning Post as secretary to Chang King-yiu, deputy director of administration in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.
He and his wife were travelling in a van provided by Cathay Pacific to transport passengers to Phuket international airport.
The van overturned on the Asia highway in Surat Thani's Tha Chana district. Mrs Yick suffered minor injuries.
Two passengers died and three others were injured in the accident. Anne Booth, a 58-year-old Briton, who suffered broken ribs, was airlifted to Phuket Bangkok hospital in Phuket.
The body of Robert Bowman, a 60-year-old Canadian, also killed in the accident, is being kept at Surat Thani hospital. Authorities have not had any contact from the Canadian embassy or his relatives, said Phanu Woramit, who heads the provincial airport authority office.
At U-tapao airport in Rayong, stranded passengers are being entertained with free puppetry shows, Thai classical dance and other entertainment andcheap massages. Only basic services are provided at the airport which is run by the military and is not equipped to handle a high level of international traffic.
An area called a "relax zone" has been set up inside the airport to entertain tourists who swamped the airport after Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports were occupied by the PAD.
The shows, which run at 11am, 1.30pm and 5pm, are popular. They are being provided by the renowned Joe Louis puppetry troupe from Bangkok and Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden from Chon Buri. Nong Nooch garden has arranged 12 shows featuring almost 100 of their performing staff.About 20 masseurs were working non-stop from morning till midnight to help waiting passengers relax. Each masseur was attending to 10-15 tourists a day.
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