Month: July 2018
- Northern Thailand News
Situation ‘perfect’ for evacuation – Narongsak Osottanakorn
Narongsak Osottanakorn, chief of the rescue operation, is saying that conditions are ‘perfect’ for an attempted evacuation. He says that the weather should be OK, in the next few days, for an attempted evacuation. Any longer than this and the rains will return along with conditions inside the cave becoming more challenging as well. This is a more upbeat mood…
Read More » - Hua Hin News
Khao Sam Roi Yot caves get pro-active with safety audit
Khao Sam Roi Yot national park in Prachuap Khiri Khan province has accelerated the exploration of four caves to gather information on cave conditions as a database to determine safety measures for tourists. Khao Sam Roi Yot national park chief Rungroj Assawakultharin disclosed that Sam Roi Yot National Park is exploring those caves in order to prepare information on their…
Read More » - Pattaya News
Pattaya 19 year old busted for pimping out underage girls
The Pattaya Mail is reporting that a 19 year old man has been arrested for allegedly pimping out underage girls via a LINE account on his smartphone. Supachai Kokhum was arrested last week and charged with human trafficking – running a LINE app group chat called “Swinging Mapa” offering underage girls to Thais and foreign tourists at 2-3,000 baht each.…
Read More » - Thailand News
Revised work permit laws for foreigners
Thailand’s rigid enforcement on Work Permits appears to be getting a reduction in penalties. Thai Visa is reporting that Thailand has updated rules regarding work permits for foreigners. Amongst the most significant of the changes is a reduction in penalties for those found working without a work permit. According to law firm Duensing Kippen, foreigners found working without a work permit…
Read More » - Chiang Mai News
Drilling down into the cave – 100 tunnels drilled so far
As the frantic effort continues around the Tham Luang caves to find alternative ways to get to the cave chamber where the 13 footballers have been waiting since two weeks ago, ‘chimneys’ or tunnels from the top or side of the mountain, down into the cave, are being established. AFP are reporting that there have been more than 100 of…
Read More » - Northern Thailand News
Heavy rain forecast forcing rescuers to act, or wait
Outgoing Chiang Rai governor, Narongsak, at a media briefing held at midnight last night, has admitted that oxygen supply within the section of the cave where the 13 footballers are waiting, has become a major concern. He also mentioned the threat from potential heavy rains in the next few days that is forcing the rescue teams to consider a premature…
Read More » - Northern Thailand News
Messages from inside the Tham Luang Caves
Whilst they’re waiting for the rescue to start, the 13 trapped footballers have been taking time to write some messages to their families and the outside world, with a special note for their teachers. One message read… “Don’t worry. We are all healthy. We want to eat many kinds of food from outside. When we are out from the cave,…
Read More » - Phuket News
Chalong boats must stay at port
The Phuket Marine Office has announced that, today (July 7), all boats are not permitted to leave from the Chalong Pier, except boats that are involved with the search teams which are under instruction from the search operation centre. The search for missing people started again this morning at 5am after being stopped late last evening. The focus of today’s…
Read More » - Northern Thailand News
“Urgent need to extract the survivors”, Chiang Rai Governor
A breakdown of rescue efforts at Chiang Rai in an excellent graphic from The Nation. Last night the former Governor of Chiang Rai at a midnight media conference said that there was an urgent need to extract the 13 with the threat of more rain and the health deterioration of some of the 13 survivors. The authorities and personnel involved…
Read More » - Phuket News
Search continues today for survivors. 23 remain missing.
With the body count numbers still in flux, as the recovery mission continues, the Phuket PR Office says the official death toll is 33 tourists that have died with dozens still missing. Strong winds and high waves sunk the dive yacht Phoenix, packed with mainly Chinese visitors, late on Thursday afternoon when a weather front came in from the Andaman…
Read More » - Northern Thailand News
- Northern Thailand News
Thaiger TV: Update on the two big stories from Thailand today
https://www.facebook.com/thethaigernews/videos/1774414402636380/
Read More » - Thailand News
Boat victims will receive 300,000 baht from Thai Government
As the search continues off the south-west coast of Phuket for survivors from tour boats that sank yesterday afternoon, Thai officials are already rolling out the PR machine. The Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat has already promised that families of the victims of the boat accidents in Phuket will receive 300,000 baht (9,000 USD) each from the Thai government.…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket: 40 bodies recovered. 16 Chinese tourists remain missing.
The Phuket Harbour Department has announced that 40 passengers of the ill-fated Phoenix dive boat are confirmed dead as a result of the sinking of the vessel yesterday afternoon. Rescuers, led by the Royal Thai Navy, continue to comb the seas around Phuket for the remaining 16 missing Chinese, says the department in a statement. 49 people have…
Read More » - Phuket News
Deputy PM foreshadows legal action against captain and owner of ‘Phoenix’
PHOTO: ‘Phoenix’ from Siraphop Srakaew Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan is threatening legal action against the captain and the owner of the ‘Phoenix’, the ill-fated tourist boat that sank yesterday evening off the south-west coast of Phuket. General Prawit says the captain and owner of the Phoenix boat will be held responsible for the accident. ‘Phoenix’ sank with 105 people on…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket: UPDATE. What we know 2.15pm
Friday, 2.15pm • 21 dead bodies have now been recovered from near Koh Maiton and just off the coast of Koh Keaw (east Phuket) • Up to 35 remain missing (figure is continually being revised) • A Chinese female tourist has been pulled out of the Andaman Sea, alive. She has been taken to Vachira Hospital in Phuket Town in…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket: Seventeen more bodies recovered. 39 remain missing
Navy sailors have located 17 more bodies from the sea off Phuket, raising the number of confirmed deaths in boat accidents to 18, while 39 Chinese tourists remain missing. Officials aboard HTMS Long Lom recovered 12 bodies at 10.50am near the location where the tour boat Phoenix sank after being slammed by huge waves on its way back to Phuket…
Read More » - Thailand News
Warm farewell for British cave-diver
By Suthinan Kongsin The Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat presented a certificate of honour to Briton Robert Charles Harper at Suvarnabhumi International Airport last night (Wednesday) as the cave expert, who played a crucial role in finding the 13 footballers, departed for home. In a spontaneous 11pm ceremony, Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith also gave him a painting of Harper…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket: UPDATE. What we know.
What we currently know at 11am, Friday morning, Thai time… • 7 dead bodies have been recovered near Koh Maiton • Up to 50 remain missing (figure is continually being revised) • One body of a Chinese tourist was recovered last last night • Navy SEAL divers are searching the sunken ‘Phoenix’ boat for bodies • Two boats sank in…
Read More » - Thailand News
Mae Hong Son: Plane crash. Injured trooper rushed to hospital, bodies retrieved.
Rescuers have rushed an injured Army trooper to hospital and retrieved three bodies after an Army Cessna 182 light aeroplane crashed in Mae Hong Son province near the Myanmar border on Thursday. A rescue team from the 17th Infantry Regiment, local defence volunteers from Ban Huay Pheung village, the Mae Hong Song Disaster Mitigation Office as well as a medical…
Read More » - Northern Thailand News
Chiang Rai: Former Thai Navy SEAL dies during rescue
A former Thai navy SEAL has died while on the way way back to the ‘hall 3’ area from where the 13 footballers are stranded. He was participating in the rescue of the 13 footballers in the Tham Luang Caves in Chiang Rai. He had finished his paid work with the Thai Navy SEAL team but was working with the rescue…
Read More » - Phuket News
56 still missing as search continues off Phuket
Latest update as of 9am Thailand Time, from the Phuket PR Office, states that one Chinese tourist has been found dead and 56 are still missing in two major marine incidents yesterday afternoon (July 5). Chinese tourists are still missing following the capsize off Phuket. Divers are currently scouring the sunken vessel, the Phoenix, for missing people. The tour boat…
Read More » - Phuket News
4-5 metres waves hit my boat, says Captain
The Captain of the dive boat ‘Phoenix’ claims that four to five metres waves hit the boat causing it to sink. Smoking Boontham, captain of the dive boat ‘Phoenix’, was carrying 105 passenger – 93 tourists, 12 boat crew and tour guides – says, “Yesterday (July 5) we left Chalong Pier at 9am heading to Koh Racha. After that we…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket boats banned from leaving port
Some Phuket boats have been banned to leaving port today (July 6). Tourist Police have warned tour operators not to leave from Phuket’s piers. The Phuket Marine Office Chief, Surat Sirisaiyat, says, “The Phuket Marine Office has been informed from the Meteorological Department that heavy rains and strong winds will hit the southern part of Thailand on the Andaman Sea. Waves are…
Read More » - Phuket News
14 flights delayed, 6 diverted, black-outs at airport as storms hit Phuket
File photo/Air Asia plane arrives at Phuket International Airport. Many flights were unable to land safely at Phuket International Airport on time and had to be diverted. There were power outages around the airport lasting from six minutes to many hours yesterday (July 5). Fourteen flights were delayed as planes were not able to land due to the wind squalls…
Read More » - Northern Thailand News
“Unrealistic and very risky.” Academic warns about cave rescue.
By Pratch Rujianrom Associate Professor Ariya Aruninta from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok is warning that the focus on evacuating the trapped 13 by drying the cave was unrealistic and very risky. Draining water out of the Tham Luang cave is an impossible mission, she claims, even as the rescue operation makes headway and pumping water from the flooded cave has…
Read More » - Phuket News
Many still missing, one dead. Search resumes this morning off Phuket.
Chinese tourists are still missing following a capsize off Phuket late yesterday afternoon (Thursday). Divers are currently scouring the sunken vessel, the Phoenix, for missing people. The tour boat was one of two reported to have capsized yesterday late afternoon. Phuket’s Governor Plodthong is keeping the media up to date with regular briefings. A sudden wind equal hit the Andaman…
Read More » - Thailand News
Interview with Ben Reymenants – Phuket diver diving at the Tham Luang caves
Transcript of an interview on The Thaiger 102.75 between ‘Waking the Thaiger’ host Garry Holden and Rawai cave-diving specialist Ben Reymenants. Ben has been volunteering his experience, skills and time up at the Tham Luang caves as part of the enormous rescue effort. Here is some of Garry’s conversation with Ben – a fascinating insight into what’s been happening in…
Read More » - Phuket News
Carnage off the coast of Phuket
Thursday, July 5, 8.30pm. Two tour boats sank off Phuket late this afternoon, forcing about 130 tourists into the sea until fishermen and marine police came to their rescue. There are currently no reports of casualties but a relief operation centre has been set up at Chalong Bay for the victims. A local fishing boat retrieved passengers from a liferaft…
Read More » - Thailand News
Open letter from His Majesty The King
Letter from His Majesty Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun I am pleased and greatly relieved to learn that, on 2nd July, 2018, the rescuers have reach all 12 youth footballers of Moo Pa (Wild Boar) Academy Football Club and their coach who were trapped inside Tham Luang caves in Tham Luang – Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park on 23rd June, 2018. This…
Read More » - Northern Thailand News
So close, yet so far – challengers ahead for divers and survivors
Whilst rescuers are tackling the tricky task of removing the 13 trapped footballers from the Tham Luang caves, the Governor of Chiang Rai has shared some of the latest thinking and strategies from the divers and rescue team. Doctors say that the 13 survivors are not physically ready to be taken out after their extended stay in total darkness for…
Read More » - Thailand News
Koh Chang: Chinese swimmers rescued off Sai Khao beach
Thai PBS is reporting that three Chinese tourists have been rescued off Koh Chang, near the Cambodian border off the coast, south of Pattaya. Rescue workers saw the three of them caught by a rip current while swimming in the sea off Sai Khao beach on early this afternoon (Wednesday) in defiance of red flags along the beach. One of the…
Read More » - Travel
Thais travel more, but not too long – Visa
Thais travel more on average than any other nationality, according to Visa’s Global Travel Intentions Study. Suripong Tantiyanon of Visa Thailand says the study also reveals that people are travelling more, but their trips are getting shorter. Thais are expected to leapfrog ahead of other nationalities in the number of vacation trips they take each year – with 3.9 trips…
Read More » - Thailand News
Murder suspect arrested 24 hours before statute of limitations expired
A Trang murder suspect has been arrested in Satun yesterday, just 24 hours before the statute of limitations on the 20 year old murder case was due to expire. 41 year old Kredis Sombatthong, a resident of Trang’s Yan Ta Khao district, was arrested by Crime Suppression Division police in Satun’s Khun Ka Long district this morning (Thursday) under a…
Read More » - Phuket News
10 million baht to develop Phuket OTOP villages
Phuket is developing its OTOP Villages with a 10 million baht budget to support local tourism. OTOP stands for ‘One Tambon (meaning sub-district) One Product’. It is a local entrepreneurship stimulus program which aims to support the unique locally made and marketed products of each Thai tambon all over Thailand. OTOP drew its inspiration from Japan’s successful One Village One…
Read More » - Thailand News
Chiang Rai: A crash course in swimming and diving
PHOTO: Thai Navy SEALS “Rescue teams have been giving crash courses in swimming and diving as part of complex preparations to evacuate the footballers trapped in Tham Luang cave.” Chiang Rai’s Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn says he still can’t be specific as to when and how the survivors would be taken out of the cave where they have been stranded since…
Read More » - Thailand News
Chiang Rai: “How to get them out” – Jonathan Miller reports
Jonathan Miller from Channel 4 in the UK provided an on-the-scene look at what’s been happening just outside the Tham Luang caves as the rescuers get ready for the evacuation process.
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