A man in the southern province of Trang got a shock when he lay down for a nap and found he was being watched by a 5-metre king cobra staring at him from the ceiling. The man’s home is on a rubber farm, where cobras and other venomous snakes are often found. The local rescue team, who reportedly specialise in capturing king cobras, received notification of an extremely long one at the man’s home.

The team arrived to find 42 year old Pricha, the owner of the rubber farm, still in shock. Pricha showed the team the snake, which was up in the rafters enjoying a nap. The team sprung into action and used snake catching equipment to pull the reptile down. Once on the ground team members grabbed it by the head and took it outside the home.

PHOTO: Khaosod

The snake turned out to be over 5 metres long and weighed 10 kilograms. At that size, the team said, the snake can basically look you in the eye, with the ability to raise it body up from the ground when in attack mode.

National Geographic states that while a king cobra’s venom might not be the most potent, they can release enough neurotoxin in a single bite to kill 20 people.

The rescue team told Pricha that it’s currently very dry in Thailand, so snakes look for water sources, which are often near homes. It’s also currently mating season for these venomous snakes and they’re looking for love. The team say they’ve caught over 20 king cobras in the last two months alone.

SOURCE: Thai Residents

21 Vietnamese crew from four Vietnamese fishing boats looking for sea cucumbers have been taken ashore to a Songkhla Navy hospital by Royal Thai Navy officials last night. They are being quarantined whilst being tested for coronavirus.

Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea. They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide.

The Songkhla Naval Base Hospital’s medical team has now screened the entire crew following a report that the Vietnamese boat had travelled to China since the start of the outbreak. Concerns were raised when Maritime Information Sharing Centre was informed on February 14 that foreign ships searching for sea cucumbers had also encroached into Thailand’s maritime zone.

Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam share parts of the Gulf of Thailand.

Its name in Malay and Khmer translates as the “Gulf of Siam”. In Thai, the gulf is historically known as Ao Sayam. In Vietnamese it is known as Vịnh Thái Lan.

Of the fishermen brought ashore, 16 didn’t show any symptoms of coronavirus while the condition of the other five, who have now been screened, is yet to be confirmed.

SOURCE: The Nation

17 electronics students from Surat Thani Technical College in Thailand’s south, who had been studying on a high vocational certificate course at Xingtai Polytechnic College in Hubei, China, have arrived home. They are healthy and happy to back with their families.

The 17 arrived at the Surat Thani International Airport, via Suvarnabhumi, yesterday jus after 9 in the morning.

The group flew with Thai Smile, the budget subsidiary of Thai Airways, after being permitted to travel back to Thailand on January 31. The repatriation was a marathon with a flight from Hubei Province to Beijing, then to Bangkok and finally a short flight to Surat Thani.

They were first tested for the new coronavirus at Beijing Airport and then again at Suvarnabhumi Airport when they arrived in Thailand. None of them tested positive. One of the students, Teshit Hanrattanakon, says that eight students were still having to wait for repatriation from Wuhan by the Thai government as China had already sealed the city before they could fly home.

30 other graduated students in Chongqing, west of Hubei province, had returned before the virus outbreak.

SOURCE: The Nation