Sumeth Lomrorb, 25, was charged with the unlicensed possession of a gun but freed on Bt50,000 bail.

Sumeth surrendered and confessed to police late Monday night that one of the guns fired during the wedding procession in Chon Buri belonged to him, police said.

Five men in police detention have admitted that they fired shots into the air during the procession.

Police are preparing to seek arrest warrants for two other men who reportedly fired gunshots but have not turned themselves in.

Engineering Institute of Thailand secretary-general Amorn Pimanmas said engineers and officials would check which metal beams must be replaced. He said parts would be obtained from the now-demolished Ratchayothin flyover.

The incident led to traffic chaos around Rama IV and nearby streets, with roads closed off as firefighters took 45 minutes to bring the blaze under control before authorities moved in to inspect the scene.

It is suspected that a homeless person or a passing motorist may have discarded a lit cigarette butt at bins stored there by Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) officials before the fire broke out around 7am. Police were checking CCTV footage of the area.

The blaze, which destroyed around 100 bins, caused heat damage to the bridge’s structure, resulting in cracks and subsidence in the road surface.

The district office reportedly kept over 1,000 new 100-litre garbage bins inside a storage cage under the bridge.

Pathumwan District Office director Morakot Sanitthangkoon said city workers claimed that a group of about five homeless people were spotted sleeping inside the bin-storing room early in the morning and, on seeing the workers, fled through a large hole that had been cut on one side of the cage.

BMA Construction and Maintenance Office director Thiti Songcharoenkit said metal beams supporting outbound lanes on the bridge were bent by heat, while the inbound lane was slightly damaged.

As inquiries into the blaze continued, city police chief Pol Lt-General Sanit Mahathaworn said police would implement measures to alleviate traffic congestion in the area.

The 390-metre, four-lane bridge was once part of a removable iron bridge called the Leopold II viaduct that Belgium built for the 1985 Expo. In 1986, as Thailand suffered severe traffic jams, Belgium offered to donate the metal bridge’s parts so it could be reassembled and reinforced for use in Bangkok.

Deputy Bangkok Governor Jakkapan Pewngarm who led officials to inspect the fire scene yesterday said that he had instructed city officials to remove all items that were stored underneath bridge across the city as to prevent a reoccurance.

Kingchan said Bangkok Airways flight to Chiang Mai would depart Mae Hong Son at 1pm instead of the usual 10.30am, as the haze would lessen in the afternoon, while Kan Air, which uses a 66-seat aircraft, has temporarily opted for a 12-seater Cessna to service passengers who had made advance bookings.

Meteorological Station official Sunthorn Kanthamala said Mae Hong Son, with a minimum temperature of 14.5 degrees Celsius, had a visibility of 1,500 metres at 7am and 2,000 metres at 8am, which were too low for a large aircraft that require a minimum of 5,000 metres visibility.

According to the Pollution Control Department website, the amount of small particulate matter up to 10 microns in diameter (PM10) in Mae Hong Son in the last 24 hours peaked at 120 micrograms per cubic metre of air, while the readings on Sunday and Monday were beyond 150 micrograms.

The suspect, identified as Kazushi Yamamoto, is currently being detained at the airport and representatives of the Japanese Embassy in Thailand visited him yesterday morning to provide assistance.

The man was apprehended after airport officials found live animals in his two bags, including 12 otters, five owls and three hawks. He was initially charged for violating of the Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act 1992 while the animals were confiscated and sent to the National Parks Department.

ACADEMICS said yesterday that the southern region would still have stable power generation in the near future even without the proposed Krabi coal-fired power plant, although Thailand would have to invest in some form of new power generation in the long term.

Meanwhile, the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) sent an official letter to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) on Monday asking the agency to comply with a prime ministerial order to conduct a new Environmental and Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) regarding the Krabi plant.

Decharut Sukkumnoed, a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics of Kasetsart University, said the southern region still had enough power to meet demand even though the coal-fired plant project had been halted by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s order regarding the EHIA.

“We have to understand that the power demand can be categorised into three types: the fundamental demand for average daily power usage, the daily maximum demand for the highest power consumption per day, and the annual peak for the highest power demand in a year,” Decharut said.

The daily fundamental demand for the southern region is 1,800 megawatts, the daily maximum demand is 2,500MW, and the annual peak was 2,800MW, he said.

“The most frequently cited figure is the annual peak, which happens less than 5 per cent of the time in a year. If we compare the daily demand with the existed power plants in the South that can operate for 24 hours and generate 2,406MW, we can see that we have enough power,” he said.

“Even though the daily maximum power demand is slightly higher than the capacity of power plants, and we have the time of the annual peak, the South can rely on 304MW from biomass power plants and 627MW from Egat’s power plants that cannot operate year-round. This still does not count a spare 700MW from the Central region and 300MW from Malaysia.”

The South had power stability without the new coal-fired power plant, as the overall capacity was 4,337MW.

Kulyos Audomvongseree, Chulalongkorn University’s Energy Research Institute director, agreed that the South would have enough power capacity for the near future without the Krabi plant.

However, Kulyos said that due to the growing power demand of about 4 per cent per year, the South would still need a new power plant in the future.

“The South will need more power, so we have to start to consider now what is the energy that we will use in the future, because power plant development takes around five to seven years to complete. If we need more power for the next decade, we will have to start the project within the next few years,” he said.

He added that every kind of energy generation had its weaknesses, so planners had to carefully consider what kind of energy suited demands to ensure cheap and reliable electricity in the future.

After the Cabinet meeting yesterday, Prayut said he had already ordered the Energy Ministry and Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to consider energy options, including what kind of energy should be used and what kinds other countries used.

“We will not talk only about coal-fired power plants or the conflict will start again, but we need a new power plant, so we have to make sure that the chosen energy is clean, safe and can ensure the country’s power stability,” Prayut said.

Regarding the EHIA study of the Krabi coal-fired power plant project, Prayut said he had already ordered relevant agencies to revoke the previous study and start the whole process again, which would include the participation of all stakeholders.

Egat governor Korasit Pakchotanon said Egat was willing to comply and cancelled both the EHIA of the Krabi plant and the Environmental Impact Assessment for the project’s coal transporting port.

“We have acknowledged the official letter from ONEP and we are willing to comply with the order from the prime minister. We will comply with all EIA and EHIA instructions by ONEP and include proper public participation,” Korasit said.

Officials have asked airlines to reserve more fuel to cover delays while waiting to land.

General manager Sirote Duangratana said the airport was preparing for work on the eastern part of the runway’s surface and taxiway B1.

“The timeframe for the repairs has been set for 60 days, starting from March 3 to May 2, 2017,” Sirote said.

Louis Moser, chairman of the Airline Operators Committee (AOC), said about 102 airlines would be affected while repairs are done on part of the runway and taxiway.

Referring to a meeting with the airlines, he said they needed to have fuel for an additional 60 to 90 minutes to ensure enough reserves while waiting for the signal to land from air traffic control.

Sirote said the airport would close an area 935 metres long at the northern end of the eastern runway, where concrete asphalt would be replaced by “modified asphalt”. Taxiway B1 will be surfaced with Portland cement.

However, Sirote said, the airport would still be open for planes taking off and landing as usual. There was still 2,750 metres of runway, which was enough for all types of craft, including long-range A380 Airbuses.

He said the airport would coordinate with U-Tapao International Airport, which would be a backup in the event of an emergency situation, if flights were unable to land at Suvarnabhumi.

Sirote said the airport had also set up a centre for monitor the progress of repairs to the runway and taxiway so the work is completed on schedule.

A passenger coordination and facilitation centre has also been set up in case there are flight delays.

Tinnagorn Choowong, executive vice president of Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, said the airport’s capacity could be cut from 68 flights an hour to 60 flights while the repairs are performed, adding that it was likely that the airport would be overloaded at times.

“Looking into the flight timetable, the airport can still serve a number of flights concurrently. But there might be flight delays from occasional traffic jams,” he said.

Officials will apply the Air Traffic Flow Management method to reduce congestion, asking airlines to coordinate and adjust flights and timetables.

BULLFIGHTING has been booming in Thailand’s South, attracting tourists and stimulating local economies, amid animal-right activists’ concerns.

Satid Prachya-ariyakul of the Thai Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals believed bullfighting was a form of animal torture.

“Bulls are forced to fight against each other and to bleed,” he said. “It should also be noted that bullfighting spurs gambling”.

A research revealed the gambling on bullfighting matches must have been in the tune of Bt73 billion a year.

When a big event was held at the International Bullfighting ring in Songkhla on Sunday, prize-money of Bt20 million was at stake, which indicates the economic attraction of this ‘sport’. There are about 28 bullrings where events are staged in the southern region, including 12 in Songkhla province.

Dej-is Khaothong, a bullring owner in Rattaphum district in Songkhla, said: “Bullfighting is our tradition. It’s a sport for men. Lately, it has attracted a growing number of tourists too.”

He pointed out that bullfighting had also generated income for local workers, such as quality-grass providers.

“On average, their income is about Bt10,000 higher than that of local farmers,” he said.

Dej-is believed bullfighting had also played a key role in the conservation of local breeds.

“Without the tradition of bullfighting, some species may have already become extinct,” he said.

With the interest in events growing, bullfight operators have been improving their facilities to ensure they can handle more groups of tourists, he said.

Wanna Kongmuang, who has four fighting bulls, said a strict regime was needed to keep the animals fit. Each bull costs between Bt100,000 and Bt10 million.

At 5am, the animals jog for one or two hours, then are allowed to rest for an hour before being fed a meal of fresh grass. After, they get a bath and are given supplementary food.

During the day, bulls need to be exposed to the sun for set periods. “During the night, we keep them safe inside mosquito nets to prevent them getting bitten by mosquitoes and insects,” she said.

“There’s a common saying that real bullfighting owners take care of their animals even better than their own children,” Wanna said.

Thanatip Chaiyos, a volunteer photographer, was part of a mission to move the five-year-old Asian black bear back to forest, which ended tragically on February 11, sparking criticism from wildlife activists.

The bear had been found wandering into villagers’ houses and eating their crops on November 30 last year.

A team of vets, park officials and Thanatip then captured the bear near Wangmuang waterfall in Nakhon Nayok’s Pakplee district.

Over the following weeks, the animal was cared for and received regular medical check-ups in preparation for its return to forest. It was also fitted with a collar and tag for enable further monitoring.

The authorities involved decided to transfer the bear back to the deep forest to prevent it from wandering out again so a helicopter was the most suitable choice of transport, Thanatip said.

He said that as the route could take them hundreds of kilometres deep into the forest, if a car was used, there would be the danger that the tranquillised bear would wake up along the way. “This was not the first time that we had transported animals by helicopter,” he said.

On the day of the accident, the sedated bear was put in a net suspended from a hook under the helicopter.

Thanatip said that the incident took place as the helicopter flew to a place near Nangrong waterfall when it hit air turbulence, causing it to swing back and forth.

The weight of the bear worsened the swinging of the aircraft, making it more difficult for the pilot to control it. “The chopper swung for a while and I saw something falling down. The pilot landed and found that the net with the bear inside had disappeared. Examining the hook, they also found that it come loose. Maybe that is how the bear fell,” he said.

Thanatip said no one could have predicted the sudden change in weather and that the bear’s death was a tragic accident.

He added that the operation had been well-prepared and planned carefully. “No one wants an incident like this to happen,” Thanatip said.

Earlier, Thongchai Saengprathum, secretary of the Khao Yai Foundation, strongly criticised park officials for allowing the bear to fall to its death, adding that people concerned should face legal action for negligence.

Reports had claimed that the bear woke up in mid-air while it was being flown into the national park in Prachin Buri, and that as the helicopter flew over forestland, the animal panicked and fell to its death.

Thongchai said the accident could have been avoided as Khao Yai National Park had been a role model for other parks in its handling of rescued wild animals.

Meanwhile, the National Parks and Wildlife Department has set up a panel to investigate the accident leading to the bear’s death.