Terrified devotees scrambled for their lives yesterday as a grey electric car careered off a busy Bangkok street and smashed straight into a historic Chinese shrine, injuring three people, one of them left pinned beneath the vehicle.
The shocking incident unfolded at around 1.13 pm local time inside the Guanyin Shrine at the Thian Fah Foundation on Yaowarat Road in the heart of the capital’s Chinatown. Security footage shows the moment the car bursts into the prayer hall amid a cloud of dust and flying debris, sending people who had been kneeling and paying their respects diving for cover.
Police said the driver, a 78-year-old man named Chairoj, had been heading to the shrine to make offerings when he suddenly felt dizzy and blacked out. He has high blood pressure. In the confusion, he pressed the accelerator, sending the BYD electric vehicle through the entrance and into the crowded interior. An alcohol test later found no trace of drink.
Rescuers from the Poh Teck Tung Foundation used hydraulic tools to free a 60-year-old woman, identified as Wipa, who had been trapped under the front bumper. She was taken to Klang Hospital with serious injuries. A 21-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman suffered lesser injuries. Around 30 other worshippers managed to flee the path of the car.
The vehicle came to rest at the base of the Guanyin statue. The statue itself was left standing, though the impact damaged parts of the altar area and surrounding fittings at the 68-year-old shrine. Officers from Phlapphla Chai 2 police station cordoned off the site and are questioning the driver over a possible charge of negligence causing injury.
The dramatic CCTV images, which quickly spread online, capture the chaotic aftermath: dust hanging in the air, overturned furniture, and bystanders rushing to help those caught in the crash. Local reports described worshippers waving and jumping clear as the car showed no sign of stopping.
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