Rescuers
arrive and after checking over the victim, begin to hoist the motorbike out
of the drain.
Patcharapol Panrak
Just a day after residents of a Sattahip neighborhood
complained to authorities about thieves stealing drain covers on Soi Lung
Pho, a motorcyclist driving down the blocked off road was seriously injured
when he drove into one of the open pipes.
Saman Meepiam, 35, required more than 10 stitches to his
head and face after his motorbike plunged into an open manhole around 4:45
a.m. Dec. 10. The Tawan Kitchen waiter said he’d been driving to a 7-Eleven
market on Sukhumvit Road about a kilometer away. The light on his bike was
off and he didn’t notice either holes in Soi Lung Pho or the fact locals had
blocked off the road to traffic.
Village Chief Natchai Sangsri had set up the barrier the
day before after three iron grates went missing, presumably from thieves
stealing them for scrap. However, warning signs they’d also placed there had
apparently been stolen by the same thieves after they returned to find the
road blocked.
Pairoj Malakul Na Ayutthaya, Mayor of Khet Udomsak
Sub-district had pledged to have the grates replaced, but the accident came
before he could get any results.
Natchai said residents reported seeing three men driving
a motorbike and a Toyota pickup truck on Soi Lung Pho after midnight take
the covers. It’s unknown if the thieves are involved with the nearly 40 iron
grates that have been pulled off of Sattahip streets this year, costing the
district more than 200,000 baht in expenses and causing several accidents.