THE grieving families of two young men killed in two separate crashes in southeast Asia, are urging travellers to take care journeying to the continent.

Both Sam Fournaise, 22 from Billericay and Ryan Marven, 30 from Stanford-le-Hope died tragically last year following serious road traffic collisions in Lao and Thailand.

Their heartbroken families spoke to the Echo following inquests into their deaths at Chelmsford Civic Centre yesterday, and are warning young travellers to make themselves more aware of the perils of travelling there.

Ryan’s mum Karen Hatch, 52, of Monks Haven, said: “We would like to have seen the driver prosecuted but it’s difficult when it happens abroad.

A friend of Ryan’s, who was travelling in the mini bus, said the driver was driving far too fast in the terrible weather, so much so he started to aqua plane before crashing into the central reservation.

“Lots of people go travelling there and people need to be more aware of the risks. People shouldn’t take any form of public or road transport over there, it’s just too dangerous. People drive around without helmets on or anything. I don’t think we will ever find peace over this.”

Over 800,000 Brits journey to Thailand every year.

Between 2000 and 2010, 124,855 people were killed in road traffic accidents in Thailand, meaning that on average there were over 12,000 deaths a year from road traffic accidents during this period.

The number of road accidents and fatalities in Lao has also risen sharply in recent years, particularly on night buses.

The Foreign Office advises travellers on their website: “The roads in Laos are in a poor condition.

Travel should only be undertaken in daylight hours. Travel after dark significantly increases the risk of an accident as vehicles often do not have lights.”

Sam’s brother Eric Fournaise, 26, who attended the inquest with Sam’s parents Jill and Paul Fournaise, said: “The level of care in Asian countries is almost nonexistent in comparison to the level of care we have here, and we want young travellers and families to be aware of this. In this country you expect a full investigation into something like this but that is not what we have received.

“We were in close contact with Sam throughout his trip. It’s difficult to put into words just how difficult it has been. He was a good lad and he will be sorely missed by everyone.”

Detailed reports into the medical care both men received while abroad were unavailable at the inquest, along with detailed reports of the traffic collisions.

Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray said this was a common problem faced by UK authorities when a person dies or is injured abroad.

Her verdict for both inquests was that the two men died as a result of injuries sustained in the road traffic collisions.