Tsunami survivor's jeep death (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Tsunami survivor's jeep death

A CIRENCESTER man who survived the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand was killed a few days later by a drunken French motorist.

Yanik Alvarez, 38, of Ashford Road, died on January 3 when his motorbike was hit head-on by Jeep driver Fabrice Falissard.

And the Frenchman was three times over the limit, an inquest heard this week.

Yanik, whose Thai home was destroyed by the tsunami, had sent text messages to family and friends telling them he was safe.

The 38-year-old had flown from Thailand to Singapore on Christmas Eve and missed the natural disaster, which killed more than 150,000 people.

But just hours after returning to the Indian Ocean paradise of Phuket, where he had been working, he was killed in the horrific accident.

Mr Alvarez was thrown 29 metres along a coastal road, where he died of multiple injuries, including a broken back.

Falissard was described in a report to Cotswold coroner Alan Crickmore by Thai policeman Lt Col Bunloet Onklang.

He said Falissard was driving 'carelessly' on the wrong side of the road when he was struck at force by Falissard's vehicle.

The Frenchman's jeep was heading out of the Holiday Inn along the road near to Karon beach when Mr Alvarez was killed outright.

Lt Col Onklang said: "It is my view that Mr Falissard was unfit to drive due to intoxication."

It was not stated in the report whether any further action has been taken to prosecute Falissard for causing death by dangerous driving.

Pathologist Dr Victoria Peterson, who conducted a post-mortem on Mr Alvarez's embalmed body, found that he had suffered a broken back and legs, severe chest injuries, and chronic blood loss.

Mr Crickmore, sitting at Cirencester, recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said: "It is clear that he Falissard was highly intoxicated and was driving his vehicle in an erratic fashion in the wrong lane. There's no doubt in my mind that this accident happened because of the drink driving of Mr Falissard.

"Yet again I am sitting at an inquest involving a collision between a car and a bike and inevitably it is the motorcyclist who ends up under my scutiny."