Blood supplies are running low and The National Blood Centre of the Thai Red Cross Society is urging members of the public to give blood in order to help meet demand.

Thai PBS World reports that a decrease in the number of people donating blood since the beginning of the month has led to a significant drop in supply.

The assistant secretary-general of the Thai Red Cross, Professor Chaivech Nutprayoon, says its blood centre is now receiving an average of 1,500 to 1,700 units a day, down from 2,000 to 2,500 a day previously.

Meanwhile, demand from hospitals all over Thailand is increasing but Professor Chaivech says the blood centre is only able to meet about 60% of that demand.

The current shortage means some patients are having to have surgery postponed due to a lack of enough blood. Children suffering with thalassemia and haemophilia are said to be particularly at risk, as their survival depends on regular blood transfusions.

Thai PBS World reports that members of the public in Bangkok can donate blood at the National Blood Centre or at Somdet Phra Pinklao, Ramathibodi, Bhumibol, Phra Mongkutklao and Watchira hospitals.

Elsewhere in the country, people can give blood at all hospitals.

SOURCE: thaipbsworld

An accident between a mini-bus and a six-wheel truck has left seven dead and seriously injured four others.

Thai PBS World reports that the collision happened in Ubon Ratchathani, northeast Thailand, yesterday morning. Witnesses say the mini-van was travelling at high speed when the driver lost control, crossing into the path of oncoming traffic and colliding head-on with the truck.

Photo: News1

The force of the collision caused the truck to flip onto its side and completely wrote off the mini-van. The seven people killed were all passengers in the mini-van and understood to have been two monks, two women and three other men.

The driver and three others were all seriously injured and taken to nearby hospitals by rescue workers at the scene.

SOURCE: thaipbsworld.com

Thai Residents reports that acting on intelligence reports, Border Patrol Police (BPP) in Chiang Mai have busted a drug smuggling operation that was attempting to transport a million yaba pills from the north of the country to the south.

The operation began on October 22, with the gang planning to transport the pills from Chiang Dao district through the forest and a network of waterways to their eventual destination in southern Thailand.

During a surveillance operation that night, police spotted a group of people crossing the Mae Ping river on foot. Each of them was carrying the same type of white backpack. A white Mitsubishi vehicle was also seen travelling to the spot where the police where hiding and, on seeing the officers, the car made a U-turn to get away.

On seeing the car turn around, the men in the water threw their backpacks into the river in panic and fled into the night.

Police say there were ten backpacks in total, each one containing 100,000 yaba pills wrapped tightly in plastic to protect them from water damage.

The Office of the Narcotics Control Board say it’s likely the drugs arrived in Thailand as part of a shipment brought in through the Mae Ai border crossing in the Chiang Dao district of Chiang Mai.

SOURCE: thairesidents.com