PHOTO: Naew Na

A 22 year old British man is in police custody in Hua Hin for having overstayed his visa.

An official under the command of the chief of Prajuab Khiri Khan immigration handed the man over to the police, as it is understood that he has overstayed his visa by 143 days.

SOURCE: ThaiVisa and Naew Na

PHOTO: Wikipedia

Thai PBS World reports that Hua Hin is launching a mass sterilisation of monkeys in an effort to manage the population. The programme is being run by Thailand’s National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation department, and will see 600 long-tailed macaque monkeys sterilised.

The monkeys are in the Khao Takiab and Khan Hin Lek Fai hill of Hua Hin, and the sterilisation programme is set to run until September 7. It’s hoped that these measures to control the monkey population will alleviate problems caused to those who encounter them, including the many tourists who visit the region.

Busaba Chokesuchart, vice-mayor of Hua Hin says there are about 3,000 macaques on Khao Takiab Hill and that it’s important to repeat the sterilisation programme regularly to ensure numbers don’t get out of control.

In addition to sterilisation, the programme also provides the opportunity for the health of the monkeys to be assessed, with department veterinarian Laksana Prasitchai ensuring they don’t have any communicable diseases that could be passed to humans or other animals.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World

PHOTOS: Twitter@pr.railway 

A scrap metal shop owner has been arrested for stealing rail track ‘pins’ that were responsible for the derailment of a railway carriages heading south from Bangkok to Chumpon province yesterday. The derailment happened in the Phetchaburi province.

The incident happened yesterday (Monday) just after midday and took the rest of the day and evening to lift the carriage back onto the tracks, and inspect the railways lines and missing pins (that hold the railway tracks onto the timber sleepers).

Read the story HERE.

The State Railway of Thailand reports that train #255 from Thonburi to Lang Suan station in Chumphon province became derailed at 12.04pm after departing the Huay Sai Tai station in Cha-am.

They confirmed that six carriages had jumped off the rails. They believed that the theft of steel nails used to fix the tracks to the sleepers had been stolen. Railway teams and cranes went to the scene to lift the carriages back on the tracks and assess the damage.

The acting State Railway governor says inspectors found 168 rail fastening screws and 40 track base plates were missing, along with 340 wooden sleepers damaged over a distance of 350 metres.

Police and railway officials raided the Rungcharoen scrap metal shop in Cha-am district last night. They found 25 rail base plates and 66 rail track pins on the premises.