Chon Buri Provincial Court suspended each prison sentence for one year and required the six young men to perform 12 hours of public service and to report to probation officers every three months.

One defendant who couldn’t afford to pay the fine was detained at the rate of Bt500 per day.

Another two men were found to have thrown water in plastic bags and were each fined Bt1,000 by police, while two minors were sent to a juvenile facility to be dealt with.

The charges against the six men were brought under the Criminal Code’s sections 389 and 397.

The first of these states: “Whoever causes a hard substance to fall on any place in a manner likely to cause harm, trouble or nuisance to a person or causes a filthy thing to dirty a person shall be punished with up to one month in prison and/or up to Bt10,000 in fines”.

Under Section 397 “whoever, in a public place, annoys or bullies another person, or causes the other person to be ashamed or troubled, shall be punished with up to one month in prison and/or up to Bt10,000 in fines”.

Muang Chon Buri police superintendent Pol Colonel Somchok Tapol said the severe punishments to these “reckless” Songkran revellers should serve as a cautionary tale for others whose actions damage the country’s tourism.

The storm damaged nearly 100 homes in all in Pakdee Chumpol district’s Tambon Laem Thong and levelled the agricultural buildings and fruit orchards in the villages of Noen Wa and Noen Pakwan.

Chaiyaphum Governor Chusak Trisan instructed officials to survey the damage and provide aid to the residents affected.

Suay Sima, 60, said she and her family were asleep when the storm hit with high winds, heavy rain and hail, tearing off the roof of their home and forcing them to take shelter in the basement for an hour. “I was terrified,” she said. “I’ve never seen a storm so severe.”

Lt Col Pattapee Srichai of the Patong Police received reports of the incident at about 7pm.

“We arrived to see a ‘Somsak Transport Company’ bus with a broken front windscreen and several other cars that were damaged on the road. The bus had first smashed into a Toyota SUV, which in turn crashed into at least five other vehicles,” said the colonel.

More and more people piled up and got caught in the traffic jam that ensued.

Bus driver Charun Sillapakarn told police that he picked up 30 Chinese tourists from Bauman Residence Hotel when, while navigating through the hills, he lost control of the brakes and crashed.

“The tour group had arrived on the island two days ago, and were scheduled to fly out on April 17,” he added.

The tourists and other drivers on the road sustained minor injuries, while Mr Charun tested negative for alcohol. .

Police have yet to confirm whether or not the bus driver will be charged.

Akarakit also urged Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to speed up an investigation into the Japan package-tour fiasco and retrieve money for the victims.

On Friday, Akarakit led around 50 representatives of 333 victims of the alleged tour scam to file complaints with the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

He claimed that the 333 people suffered Bt6.2 million damages after being left stranded at the airport on Tuesday night.

He said Pasit’s business, which wasn’t properly registered with the authorities, had duped people into buying direct-sales products – which they didn’t receive – with a false promise of a free package tour overseas.

“[Choosing] between my own future and the country’s future, I decided to wash my hands of politics so I can work to steer national reform until its final phase,” the veteran politician tweeted yesterday.

The new charter states that members of the NRSA and the National Legislative Assembly should resign their membership within 90 day after the Constitution was promulgated or they would not be eligible to run in the next election.

He wrote on his Twitter account that he had been asked often whether or not he would return to the Democrat Party or form a new party, or whether he would resign to run in an election.

He said that he had tied his future with the country since he proposed a reform plan with the Democrat party in 2013.

In the past two years, the 11 points of reform had made good progress, Alongkorn said. Also, as the new Constitution had laid out steps to be taken on national reform, the politician-turned-reformer said it made reform even more important than his own future.

He said in steering the reform, he must remain non-partisan and not side with any faction.

In addition, the former Democrat MP said that he had promised the people in his home province and his stronghold Petchaburi that the Democrat Party would be his only affiliation, implying he would not form a new party.

Alongkorn quit the Democrat Party in 2013 a year ahead of the coup. He said that the party needed reform or it would not win an election and because he did not see eye to eye with other members, he left the party.

He was seated in both the junta-appointed reform assemblies – the defunct National Reform Council and the soon to be defunct NRSA.

Six members of a family from Ubon Ratchathani had been on a long-tail-boat ride at the famous attraction in Phone Na Kaew district when the boat, suspected of having been overloaded, sank about 800 metres from shore on Thursday afternoon.

Three people including a boy swam to shore but three others were missing initially.

The lifeless body of Umaporn Somboon, 20, was retrieved on Friday at 8am and that of her husband Teerasak Naisawang, 27, at 9.30am, Phone Na Kaew Precinct officer Pol Major Sakkarin Phothinam said.

Divers from the Metthatham Foundation were looking for the last missing person, Manit Somboon, 26.

The app receives information and alert sent in by concerned members of the public and forwards it to relevant authorities.

It will also store the information in the system so that other people could use it for their volunteer work in the future.

Those who use the Android system can download the application now, while those with iOS can do so as of May 1.

Puey Ungphakorn School of Development Studies will soon launch a social-watch centre to receive complaints from the public about dangers and threats. The centre will work around the clock.