The death of a British tourist who fatally fell from a tuk tuk in Phuket has been blamed on her drunken state.
According to a police statement, Paul Henry Fortuna, 30, the man who was travelling in the back of the tuk tuk with the deceased, identified as Elizabeth Corrigan, said she was drunk, slipped and fell from the tuk tuk before striking her head on the road early Sunday morning.
Elizabeth, 29, fell from the tuk tuk en route to her hotel at about 3:30am on Sunday. Rescue workers attended to her on the road near a Muslim cemetery in Kamala and rushed her to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Police said they also had to wait for Paul to sober up before they could question him.
“We took Mr. Fortuna’s statement on Monday,” Kamala Police Chief Pattanajak Jakkapan. “We had to wait as he was very drunk on Sunday morning, and even in the evening he still tested positive for alcohol.”
Paul explained to police that Elizabeth moved to the entryway at the back of the tuk tuk as she was about to vomit after they had spent a night drinking in Patong.
“That’s when she fell. He reached out to grab her, but missed. He shouted for the tuk tuk driver to stop immediately, ” police said.
The driver, Yongyut Damkong, 44, tested negative for alcohol immediately after the accident.
Police have yet to conclude the investigation and are still checking for any CCTV footage that can help them determine what happened, including what the driver and the male companion were doing at the time of the incident.
“It is too early for us to deduce any conclusions. We are still waiting for the Land Transport Department to confirm that the tuk-tuk is legal, and roadworthy,” said police.
Editor’s Note: The previous Coconuts report on this story showed a photo of Bangkok’s tuk tuk as the vehicle the tourist fell from when, in fact, she fell from a mini truck, which is called a ‘tuk tuk’ by Southern locals or ‘Song Thaew’ in Bangkok.
Story: The Phuket News
