Thailand News Update | Thunderstorm destroys brand new passenger building at Don Mueang Airport

The Thai public health ministry says it intends to stick to its schedule of declaring the Covid situation in Thailand ‘endemic’ by July 1. Since April 1 the number of new daily infections has fallen sharply but a ministry spokesperson yesterday noted that the number of daily deaths is continuing to rise and has been over 100 people each day for the past 10 days.

A number of medical academics were predicting that a surge after the Songkran holiday could reach up to 100,000 new infections per day, which would be a sudden reversal of the current situation.

Meanwhile the CCSA is set to meet on April 22 to assess the current trends and hospital case-loads to decide if it modify the current restrictions and make alterations to the Thailand Pass. Officials have speculated that they would like to remove the PCR test on arrival for international travellers and replace it with an ATK test on arrival. The current test on arrival still involves a pre-paid one stay in an SHA plus hotel.

A thunderstorm heading through Bangkok late on Sunday has caused the new Service Hall at Don Mueang International airport to collapse. The hall had been built just one year ago but hasn’t yet been used due to low levels of international travel. No injuries or deaths were reported. Luckily there was no one in there at the time.

The walls and ceiling of the Service Hall reportedly collapsed on Sunday night during a localised thunderstorm. The airport had built the hall to be used as a meeting place for group tours at Don Mueang Airport Terminal 1, the home of most budget international and some budget domestic flights.

The management of Don Mueang Airport has ordered a team of engineers to inspect the damage and report the causes of the collapse in detail. Thailand’s Minister of Transport has ordered Airports of Thailand to also urgently investigate the cause of the incident.

The preliminary report stated there was a storm and heavy rainfall which overwhelmed some of the structure.

Thai feminist groups banded together yesterday to stage a protest in front of Democrat party headquarters, in the wake of a slew of sexual assault allegations against the party’s former deputy leader, Prinn Panitchpakdi.

On Sunday, Bangkok’s South Criminal Court detained Prinn over 3 counts of sexual assault and harassment, before temporarily releasing him on bail, on the condition that he wouldn’t leave the country.

During yesterday’s protest, the women danced to the the feminist anthem “Sida Lui Faai” which means “Sida Through Fire” a reference to how victims of sexual abuse in Thailand are often blamed by powerful people for the abuse that happens to them.

They also read aloud a prepared statement, grilling the former party leader for inferring that sexual abuse is a “personal matter”. This, they say, is a way of deflecting blame from himself and onto his victims.

The feminist protesters demanded five things…

• Political parties should not interfere with court cases.

• Political parties should apologise sincerely to the public regarding the case.

• An investigation should be launched into behaviours of past sexual abuse by party or committee members.

• All political parties must have a clear ethical code of conduct regarding sexual assault and harassment, and…

• All political parties and committees in which Prinn Panitchpakdi was a member should investigate his past criminal record.

A Democrat party member and government spokesperson accepted the protesters’ demands. She also emphasised her party’s clear policy against sexual harassment. In order to help women who’ve been abused, she said the Democrat party has already set up a centre.

A volunteer rescue worker has died, after reportedly receiving a lethal gunshot wound to the chest during a street brawl that broke out between two rival volunteer foundations in Bangkok.

Officers from Thong Lor Police Station investigated Kasam Rat Road in front of Lotus’s Rama 4 branch in Bangkok yesterday, after receiving a report of a fight between two volunteer rescue teams the Poh Teck Tung Foundation and Siam Ruam Jai Foundation. One rescue worker was shot at the scene and later died at a hospital.

According to the report, the scene of the fight was a six lane road, which was full of bricks and shattered bottle glass after the fight between volunteers from the two foundations.

At a barrier in the middle of the street, the officers found a rescuer from Poh Teck Tung Foundation who was shot in the chest and lay there in critical condition. The victim was sent to a nearby hospital, but didn’t survive the journey.

More than 50 volunteers were still at the scene when police arrived, but Siam Ruam Jai members had already fled.

The story emerged that the groups were fighting over work boundaries in the Thonglor area. Members of one rescue team had been fired and went on to establish a new team.

But the groups started having many minor conflicts before the deadly brawl broke out on Sunday.

The boy was sitting near the tree studying online when the incident happened. The boy sadly died instantly when the tree fell on him, crushing him underneath.

The boy’s relatives said that 10 year old Kraiwit went to the temple with his grandma to help out with work around the temple as usual. The grade 5 student sat down under a mangosteen tree near the banyan tree with his smartphone to study online when the 100 year old tree fell down.

A 61 year old monk was sitting outside a monk’s hut when he heard the sound of a tree falling. He shouted to the boy, telling him to move out of the way. But the whole incident was over in seconds and the boy was crushed underneath the enormous tree.

Police have arrested a man on suspicion of a murder which took place nearly 15 years ago this morning in Yala province, southern Thailand. Police found the suspect on the side of the road in Betong district and arrested him on a warrant issued by Chiang Rai Provincial Court back in 2007. Police believe the murder was a politically motivated attack.

A man named Japuer Asa was on the run for almost 15 years after he was wanted for a murder which occured in Chiang Rai province. The body of a man named Kongkraphan was found in a corn plantation in the Mae Suai District in Chiang Rai province in July 2007. The man had suffered serious injuries to his mouth and a gunshot to the chest.

Today, the 56 year old suspect was arrested by police on the side of the road in Yala province on suspicion of murder, possession of an illegal weapon and possession of ammunition. Police allege that the victim was Japuer’s political opponent in a local election and police are treating the incident as a politically motivated murder.

The statute of limitations for murders, punishable with death or life imprisonment, is 20 years.