– Prakaithong, 3, died after a six-wheel truck driver reversed over her at a construction workers’ camp in Soi Thepprasit 5 at about 6:36 p.m. on October 13th.
– The truck, with Phetchabun plates, was driven by Thaksin, 23. He said he checked his mirrors and did not see her because of the vehicle’s height and a blind spot.
– CCTV showed the girl running after a ball as the truck backed in. Workers ran out moments later.
– Police took the driver for questioning and kept the footage. The body was moved to a hospital for the family to collect.
Pattaya: A three-year-old girl tragically died on Tuesday evening in Jomtien after a six-wheel truck driver reversed over her while she was playing with a ball at a construction camp in Soi Thepprasit.
Pol. Lt. Col. Chinawat Thisala, an investigation inspector at Pattaya City Police Station, was notified at 6:36 p.m. on October 13th of a serious injury at the camp in Soi Thepprasit 5. Sawang Boriboon rescuers went with him.
Workers had gathered around a six-wheel truck, plates from Phetchabun. Under the rear wheels was Prakaithong, 3. She had been crushed and died a short time later. Her parents sat with the body, crying. Driver Thaksin, 23, told officers he had driven into the camp and was reversing into a parking spot. He said he checked the mirrors carefully, but the height of the truck and a blind spot meant he did not see the child until he had already run over her. He said he was deeply sorry.
CCTV from the camp shows the girl running after a ball at the same moment the truck driver begins to reverse, then the impact, then workers running out. Thisala photographed the scene, kept the recording, and took the driver in for a full statement. Rescuers moved the body to a hospital to await the family’s papers for the funeral.
Reversing deaths of small children at work camps and in soi parking areas turn on the same problem: a truck’s rear blind spot is larger than a mirror covers, and a child chasing a ball is below the driver’s line of sight. No charge was announced. Investigators will have to decide whether the driver failed to take enough care under the Land Traffic Act, which can apply when a death follows careless reversing.
A construction death in a nearby soi in June was a different kind of accident: a 15-year-old was pulled into a pile driver at a condominium site in Soi Thepprasit 7.