Investigation into mine explosion on a Phang Nga Bay bird’s-nest concession island
Police have launched an investigation into an explosion at a bird’s-nest concession area in Phang Nga bay, where one man was killed and another injured on Monday night. The island is Koh Lao Dua, six kilometres north of Koh Yao Noi.
Story HERE (one man has died since The Thaiger story).
Somkid Thongdee, who was with the two victims at the time, survived the explosion without injury. He maintains that they had entered the area to collect wild orchids. One of the men stepped on a mine planted along the beach.
A local community leader, however, is raising doubts about their claim, saying that locals had long known that the concession area was out of bounds.
(Do tour operators and inquisitive tourists know about the locations? Are there clear and obvious warning signs along the beaches?)
“Some measures have been used to deter thieves,” the community leader said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The day after the blast police found more mines planted in the concession area.
One of them was apparently similar to a device that police had seized from bird’s-nest watchers last year.
SOURCE: The Nation
