German tourist, 51, dies when motorcycle crashes into canal in Thailand

A German tourist was killed when his motorcycle crashed into a canal in Thailand.

Andreas Hankel, 51, from Hanau in Hesse, reportedly lost control of the two-wheeler before hitting the railings of the Klong Prao bridge on the island of Koh Chang island on Wednesday night.

Paramedics said they rushed to the scene after an emergency call from villagers who saw the motorcycle fall into the channel during heavy rain.

Volunteer Janya Thammajit said: 'We received a reported from a resident that there was a motorist who fell off the Klong Prao bridge and that the person was washed away in the canal. We arrived at the scene around five minutes after the call, but it took us 20 minutes to find him.

'We couldn't find him immediately because it was so dark. The residents also helped by searching the canal on their boats. They supplied us with a generator and flashlights.

'The current was very strong. Finally, our rescue officer noticed a blockage in the channel. We checked it and found the foreign man lodged there. He had a very weak pulse when we found him.'

Police Lieutenant Chingchai Chotisiri from the Koh Chang Police Station said: 'Now the body has been sent to Police Hospital for the post-mortem process. His family have been informed and will take his body to hold the funeral at Wat Khlong Phrao later.'

Dramatic video shows medics pumping the driver's chest trying to revive him. An ambulance later arrived to rush him to the Koh Chang International Hospital. However, he was later pronounced dead from pulmonary oedema.

Hospital officials did not disclose the man's name. They only said he was a 51-year-old German national.

Thailand has seen a recent string of vehicular accidents involving tourists.

On September 11, French holidaymaker Jonathan Henri Zysermann, 37, died after crashing a rented motorcycle into a ditch on Koh Pha Ngan island.

On September 9, Billy Thomas James, 30, from Hammersmith, west London, was killed in a horror motorbike crash in the Ao Nang area of Krabi province. He was reportedly helmetless while speeding on the vehicle.

Thailand has one of the world's worst road safety records. Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.

However, a lack of road safety education in schools along with notoriously easy driving tests, police failures to enforce road laws, and chronic under-investment in infrastructure, all appear to hamper the efforts.