Cross-continental cyclist killed in Korat crash

[UPDATE] NAKHON RATCHASIMA — A Chilean inter-continental cyclist who expected to complete a world record this year was killed when hit by a pickup truck on Mittraphap Road on Saturday afternoon.

Police named the man as Juan Francisco Guillermo, 48.



His Singaporean wife, Ng Poh Leng, 40, suffered a broken left leg and two-year-old son Lucas sustained minor injuries. They were taken to Bua Yai Hospital in Bua Lai district where medical staff described their condition as satisfactory.



Guillermo and his family had made a rest stop at a police checkpoint in Khon Kaen's Phon district on Saturday morning before heading off to Nakhon Ratchasima with the bicycle pulling a carriage. Before they left the checkpoint, Guillermo told a policeman he would later travel to Australia.



The accident happened when a speeding pickup truck driven by Tiwarat Ratchaipidet, aged 64, scraped the bicycle on the roadside. The cyclist was thrown from the bicycle and died on the spot. His body was sent to Bua Yai Hospital for autopsy.

Photos by Prasit Tangprasert

The bicycle was totally destroyed, while the pickup truck crashed into a ditch and overturned.



Mr Tiwarat, who escaped unscathed, told police he was travelling from Khon Kaen to Nakhon Ratchasima and did not see the bicycle. Police have charged him with careless driving resulting in death and injury.



Mrs Ng said religious rites for her husband would be held at Dhamma Utthayan Forest Monastery in Muang district in Khon Kaen. She said it was what Guillermo would have wished.



She said the family spent almost a week at the Buddhist temple before journeying on to Nakhon Ratchasima. Guillermo was impressed with the atmosphere and told her he wanted religious rites held there should he die.



“I never thought my husband would end his life in Thailand. We were planning to cycle to Singapore to visit my parents,” Mrs Ng said.



She said tourist police would help transport Guillermo’s body to the temple on Monday when she will talk with the abbot about the funeral.



Pichet Daechakhampoo of the Nakhon Ratchasima provincial tourism and sports office, along with local police, visited Mrs Ng and her child at the hospital on Sunday. He said arrangements had been made to give 300,000 baht to the family for their loss and another 100,000 baht to cover hospital fees.

Pol Lt Bandtoon Sritiang, who is in charge of the inquiry into the accident, said Mr Tiwarat waited at the scene to surrender and admitted all charges. He said he was willing to take responsibility for his deeds.



The officer said Mrs Ng was not yet ready to talk about the incident and wanted the accident inquiry to take place after the funeral.

A sign on the bicycle said Guillermo planned to set a Guinness World Record by cycling 250,000 kilometres around the world in five years. The unsponsored trip started in November 2010 and he had cycled about 140,000 kilometres.



The sign said the Chilean met his wife along the way and had rested while she had a baby.



In 2013, round-the-world British cyclists Peter Root and Mary Thompson died when they were struck by a pickup truck in Chachoengsao. The pickup truck driver admitted that his vehicle hit the British couple while he was reaching down to pick up a mobile phone.