Yupharat Wilaipong (center) and his family
were happy to see Ronan Bradley back in Thailand.
Bob James and Teerarak Suthathiwong
A fiery motorcycle crash stole Ronan Bradley’s youthful good looks, but
it never broke his spirit. Nine years later, the Irishman, who has
undergone nearly two dozen surgeries and been the subject of a BBC
documentary, came back to Pattaya to find and thank the Thai motorcycle
taxi driver who pulled him from under a burning truck.
Bradley and his mates came from Northern Ireland to Pattaya Christmas
week 2003 for a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. Then only 24, Bradley, like
so many young lads on vacation, rented a powerful motorcycle and a tiny
helmet, never imagining the horrors Thailand’s roads can hold. On Jan.
2, the nightmare came true when, rolling his Honda CBR down Soi
Pattayaland 1, he collided with and slid under a 4x4 pickup that burst
into flames, setting the bike alight as well.
Ronan Bradley (right) talks
with motorcycle taxi drivers at the site of the 2004 accident.
“I actually woke up in a Toyota pick-up, which was
the ambulance,” Bradley told the U.K.’s Daily Mirror in 2009. “I woke up
on the back of it. I remember vaguely looking down on the jeep on fire
and thinking ‘Jesus what happened there?’”
The scars were still obvious when Bradley, now 35, came to Pattaya
Police Station Oct. 8 looking for his rescuers. In the years since the
accident he has gone under the knife more than 20 times, leaving him
permanently disfigured. The 21st surgery was documented by the U.K.’s
“Superdocs” television show. Even then, as he underwent an eight-hour
operation to rebuild his right cheek using skin from his stomach, he
remained superhumanly positive.
“I take every day at a time. I don’t mind going in for the operations
because every time they are helping me. No pain no gain,” he told the
newspaper.
Yupharat Wilaipong was just 25 on Jan. 2, 2004. He was working as a
motorcycle taxi driver and heard the explosion while sitting at his
Pattayaland taxi.
Along with another driver, Yupharat pulled Bradley from under the
vehicle, tearing off his taxi vest and using it to tamp down the flames
consuming the young Irishman. Sawang Boriboon volunteer Bunlue
Inthrasawang, passing by on his way home from work, sped him to Pattaya
Memorial Hospital. Bradley was already unconscious, so Yupharat rushed
back to his bike, worried it might be stolen because he left the keys in
the ignition.
He never expected to see Bradley again.
Yupharat, who now runs the Pithak Chai Air Conditioning repair shop,
said he hadn’t thought about that day in a long time. He didn’t know
that, for the past two years, Bradley had been looking for him.
Being pulled from under the burning truck was like being “born again
from death,” Bradley told reporters at Pattaya Police Station this
month. “The most important goal of my return to Thailand this time is to
search for people who had rescued me.”
Yupharat said a motorcycle taxi driver friend had called him in 2011,
saying Bradley wanted to meet him. He never called back. But on Oct. 6,
he got a call from an aunt about Bradley’s latest visit to Thailand and
he agreed to meet.
Bradley waited an hour for the obviously emotional reunion at the Soi
Bunsamphan shop. Yupharat had been out on a call. When he returned,
Bradley hugged the man who saved his life as tears flowed down his face.
“I love Thailand, I love Thai people,” he said.
“I’m usually a very shy person and did not want to be on the news,”
Yupharat said afterward. “But I am happy that this Irishman realizes the
kindness of Thai people and had flown all the way to find the person who
had helped him.”
Bradley also got a reunion with Bunlue, now 48, at the Garden Lodge in
Naklua. He’d been driving home with a friend when they saw the accident.
When he heard Bradley had returned, he wasn’t sure he wanted to meet.
“I was afraid because I thought he might have claimed that his
belongings were missing (nine years ago),” Bunlue said. “I called the
police station first to find out why he was here.”
When he learned that Bradley simply wanted to thank him, he came to the
station. He said he never expected, then or now, to receive any sort of
reward.
Bradley took both men to dinner at the Mum Aroi restaurant.
