Health Office to probe mystery “yellow rain”

PHUKET: People on Chao Fah Nok Rd have been astonished and not a little disturbed over the past 10 days by a stinking yellow rain that has fallen, apparently from the sky, for one or two minutes every evening. Samples of the yellow liquid, which falls over an area of about 100 meters in diameter, are to be collected this evening by Phuket Health Office laboratory staff in an attempt to pin down the chemical composition and, they hope, identify where the “rain” comes from. Veerapong Aeophanthong, chief of the regional Mineral Resources Office, who was handed a few sample drops, said the sprinkle, which occurs between 6 pm and 7 pm about 100 meters south of the Charoen Phromphan store, is indeed yellow – and does indeed smell bad. “We tested it with water and alcohol and found that it does not dissolve in either. It’s a bit like oil,” K. Veerapong told the Gazette. He said that his department could not perform any further tests because their equipment needed much larger samples. But he added that he thinks the “rain” is harmless, and that reports of people’s skin being irritated by it could well be put down to imagination. “I do not think it likely to have come from aircraft because the area is not under a flight path. But it could have something to do with the wind.” The phenomenon has been attracting large numbers of curious people, resulting in minor traffic jams.