Revving bikes escort dead road racer to crematorium

Revving bikes escort dead road racer to crematorium

Young motorcyclists with revving engines escort the coffin of their teen friend who died in an accident while road racing, at Wat Pho Ban Yang in Muang district of Buri Ram on Tuesday. (Photo by Surachai Piragsa)
Young motorcyclists with revving engines escort the coffin of their teen friend who died in an accident while road racing, at Wat Pho Ban Yang in Muang district of Buri Ram on Tuesday. (Photo by Surachai Piragsa)

BURI RAM: Loudly revving motorcycles accompanied the funeral procession of a young teenager killed while road racing on Saturday night as his speed-loving friends took his body to the temple for cremation on Tuesday.

A dozen young bikers escorted the coffin of their 14-year-old friend, known as Kao, from his house to nearby Wat Pho Ban Yang in tambon Ban Yang of Muang district.

They revved up their engines all the way from the house to the temple and throughout the three rounds of the crematorium, to "ensure his spirit was at peace". Then the coffin was lifted to the crematorium platform.

Kao was one of four teenagers who died when their speeding bikes ran into a red pickup truck turning into a petrol station on the main road about 11.30pm on Saturday. Five motorcycles hit the truck, injuring six bikers. Four of them died. The other three were believed to be from Ban Dan, about 12 kilometres up the road. 

Two people on the pickup were also injured.

Piyathida Jomram, an elder sister of Kao, said they lived with their maternal grandparents because their parents were divorced. Their mother worked abroad and rarely visited them.

Kao was quiet and loved to modify and speed his motorcycle, she said.

Satang, Kao's 17-year-old friend, said he was riding in the group that night, and was sorry Kao was killed. The accident should serve as a lesson for those who loved speed, he said.

But speeding was their big interest, he added.

The young friends revved their motorcycles because they wanted to show their love and to send Kao's spirit to a good place. They did not intend to annoy anyone, Satang said.

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