PHOTO: sanook.com

When a hotel in Pattaya caught on fire 400 foreigners, who were stating in the hotel at the time, evacuated without injury. The blaze remained isolated in the front section of the building and didn’t have time to spread to guest rooms inside the hotel.

Chonburi Police were notified at 4.30am yesterday morning, December 6, about the fire at a popular Pattaya hotel in Soi Buakhao, Bang Lamung. Emergency responders and firefighters headed to the scene, along with local volunteer rescue workers and a medical team from Pattaya City Hospital.

They arrived to find the front of the 8 level hotel ablaze. Police, locals and the hotel staff helped over 400 guests, including children, seniors, and handicapped persons, evacuate safely. Everyone was accounted for and evacuated in an orderly manner, according to police. The blaze took about 30 minutes to extinguish.

The 29 year old on-duty security guard, Supatchai, told police he saw some smoke coming out from the front of the building. Not long after the flames started and were fanned by the winds that were blowing.

Firefighters headed into the burned out area at the front of the hotel to inspect the source of the fire. They told police that it started in the front of the hotel and didn’t have time to spread into the rear section where hotel rooms were located. Even though the fire was isolated to the front of the building, damages are estimated to be valued around 1 million baht.

Police are now questioning witnesses and investigating what caused the fire.

SOURCE: Sanook.com

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The Royal Thai Navy has sent two ships to prevent a 4 kilometre-long oil slick from advancing toward Thailand’s eastern Gulf coast. The vessels are equipped with skimmers, oil booms and oil dispersants contain the spill.

The oil slick came from a sunken tanker, the Golden Bridge 2, that capsized and sank in high seas on December 3. It was about 15 kilometres from Si Chang Island off Chon Buri province moving west, according to the Geo-informatics and Space Technology Development Agency.

The slick is estimated to contain around 20,000 litres. The Golden Bridge 2 contained about 104,000 litres of oil when it capsized.

GISTDA says it’s closely monitoring the slick’s movement using its Sentinel 2A satellite and has been analysing the situation via radar.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment fears the oil could damage marine life and corals around Koh Si Chang, just off the Laem Chabang coast, mangrove forests along the coasts of Phetchaburi province and even Bangkok.

Three sailors were rescued from the Golden Bridge 2 boat, on the same morning that a Burmese fisherman was rescued by the Navy after surviving ten hours alone at sea.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News

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U-Tapao International Airport, serving the cities of Pattaya and Rayong in eastern Thailand, has officially opened a second passenger terminal, with ambitious plans for growth and an increase in passenger capacity from over 2 million a year to 5 million over the next five years.

The Nation reports that airport officials are also waiting for the outcome of the bidding process on the U-Tapao Airport and Eastern Airport City Development Project, which would see the successful bidder win a contract to construct a third passenger terminal.

Vice Admiral Kritchaphon Rianglekjamnong, director of U-Tapao International Airport, anticipates that the volume of passengers and flights will continue to grow, increasing from 177,000 people a year in 2015 to 1.99 million this year.

“Fifteen airlines operate 15,767 flights on 33 routes both domestic and international. We expect that the number of passengers will increase to 2.5 million people from the previous 800,000 passengers. The airport is planning to renovate the first passenger terminal and manage the newly opened second terminal, so it is fully utilised.”

Kritchaphon says he expects the increase in numbers to be facilitated by the opening of the second terminal while the airport waits for the third to be completed in around four years.

“It will help maintain continued passenger growth while awaiting the third terminal, the first phase of which will be completed in 2024 and support 12 million people.”

The Nation reports that the airport also plans to work with private investors to facilitate the provision of services such as warehouse management, small aircraft maintenance, and an import-export process for bonded goods.

SOURCE: The Nation

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