Three Brit teens among 11 injured as falling tree smashes into bus in Thailand
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Three British teenagers were among 11 injured when a tree fell onto a moving bus in Thailand as holidaymakers screamed in terror. Biba Rose Waddell, 19, from London, Sophia Rose Alice Ridehalgh, 19, from Welwyn Garden City, and Sasha Chloe Hayes, 18, from Oxford, were onboard the 54-year-old vehicle when the whole trunk crashed onto the roof in Kanchanaburi.
The tree had been hacked down by an illegal logger using a chainsaw, causing it to drop onto the bus. The driver skidded the vehicle across the road as the holidaymakers onboard screamed in terror, coming within a few feet of plunging down a hillside.
Police arrived at the scene and found 36 passengers inside. They said that 11, including the British girls, were taken to the hospital for treatment. Police Lieutenant Colonel Maneephat Pengklet, investigator at the Lat Ya Police Station, said cops were notified of the accident at 10 am.
He said: 'At the scene on Highway No. 3199, a blue Benz passenger bus was found. It was headed to the Erawan Waterfall and a wormwood tree on the side of the road had fallen on it. The windshield was shattered. 'Initial inspection found at least 30 foreign passengers. There were 10 injured people from shattered glass and broken branches.' The injured individuals were taken to the Synphaet Hospital for treatment.
Most of the passengers suffered minor injuries and have already been discharged. A Canadian tourist, Jaime Michelle Mitchell, 45, was taken to the ICU with a neck splint. Land transport official Thawatchai Wiriyajit said will shoulder the patients' hospital bills.
