PATTAYA: A songtaew driver ordered a Russian passenger off the vehicle after she suffered a head injury when he suddenly braked, and then drove off leaving her bleeding on the roadside, early on Wednesday morning.
The tourist, Vera Ivanova, 26, was standing on the pavement, bleeding from a head injury, near Theppaya intersection in tambon Nong Prue of Bang Lamung district, when emergency workers arrived around 3.30am. A Russian man was assisting her.
The rescue team gave her first aid before taking her to hospital.
FamilyMart employee Sakda Kulamart, 19, said the Russian woman, blood runing down her face, had run into the store seeking help.
The tourist told him that she had been sitting in a songtaew. The driver had suddenly applied the brakes and her head hit an iron strut beside the seat.
When the driver saw she was bleeding from the head he had ordered her off the vehicle and then driven away, Mr Sakda quoted the tourist as saying.
The driver was strongly criticised by people who witnessed the incident for not assisting his injured passenger or arranging for her to be taken to hospital. Instead he just abandoned her.