The man, who was named by police as Saneh Pintamnak, 63, had had his throat slit and his wallet was missing.

Witnesses told police that Saneh had picked up passengers from Om Noi city at dawn.

Police suspect his killers might have pretended to be ordinary customers and lured Saneh to the pick-up spot intending to rob him.

“There might have been some struggles and Saneh got killed,” a policeman said after inspecting the scene.

Prasert sae Tan, a fishermen, called police to the scene after finding Saneh’s body.

“When I saw a taxi, I thought it was coming to pick up someone but after I got close, I saw the body. So, I immediately called police,” the 59-year-old man said.

The boat commuters jumped into the sea when the fire started and waited for help. Fortunately, a nearby boat could rush in time to rescue all the stranded tourists.

“The accident took place around midnight. About an hour later, we received a report that all the commuters had already been rescued,” Pol Lt-Colonel Attapong Saenjaiwut, a tourist police inspector based in Krabi province, said on Sunday.

Police said the boat that caught fire had taken Thai tourists on a diving trip that was to cover Satun, Trang, Krabi and Phuket. The fire happened on the third leg of the trip.

An investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the fire and to determine whether anyone should be held responsible.

An activist from Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong district, Jirasak Inthayot, yesterday raised concerns over the mass extinction of bird and fish species in the Mekong and the grave impacts on the livelihoods of local people from the unnatural rise in water levels during the dry season.

Jirasak said that the water level in the Mekong has been increasing since March 15 and, as of yesterday, all the sandy beaches, islets, and rocks in the river that are normally exposed at this time of year were submerged.

“These sandy beaches and rocky areas are the major nesting ground for many bird species, while the shallow and clear water of the Mekong River in the dry season allows gai (river algae) to bloom and become a food source for fish and local people,” he said.

“However, the unnatural water-level rising has already damaged almost all the nests along the river, threatening the survival of many bird species and destroying gai. The water discharged from Chinese dams has both deepened the river and made the water too turbid for the growth of gai.”

According to information provided by Mekong River Commission, the water level at Chiang Rai’s Chiang Saen district increased rapidly by up to 0.6 metres during the past week. The water level on Thursday was 2.7 metres, compared to 2.1 metres on March 12.

Jirasak said this was not the first time that a water discharge from dams in China had devastated bird-nesting areas and harmed the river ecosystem. China had previously released water to facilitate a survey of the Mekong River navigation channel improvement project, causing the water level to remain high throughout the last dry season.

“We have noticed a significant decrease in the bird population this year, as an entire generation of many bird species was killed last dry season. The nests of the remaining birds were destroyed by the unseasonable rising of the water level. I fear that many bird species will be extinct soon,” he said.

Philip Round, an expert from Bird Conservation Society of Thailand, said that at least 13 rare bird species are endangered by the loss of habitats and nesting grounds from the dry season water discharge and blasting of river rapids. Two species of critically endangered birds – Sterna aurantia (river tern) and Esacus recurvirostris (great stone-curlew) – may face extinction.

Adding to the grave impacts on Mekong River fauna and flora, the livelihood of local people has also been threatened by activity at the upstream dams. Jirasak said that people were now unable to gather gai from the river, and that deprived them of income of up to Bt2,000 per day.

“Farmland along the riverbank, which provides another way of life for local people, is going to be the next victim, as the water level is still rising and some of the low-lying farms have already been flooded,” he said.

It was reported earlier this month that the low water level in the Mekong River during dry season had disrupted the navigation of big vessels and stranded many transport boats. The Marine Department asked Chinese authorities to discharge more water to support river navigation, and to share water-discharge information from Jinghong Dam with Thailand.

Findings of toxic contamination from Akara Resources’ gold mine have been hailed as significant scientific confirmation of an environmental disaster in Phichit, an environmental science academic has warned.

Chainarong Sretthachau, a lecturer at Mahasarakham University, has also urged authorities to take immediate action on the issue.

The inspection of the first tailing storage facility (TSF1) at Akara Resources’ gold mine has confirmed the leakage of contaminated water, while Akara has questioned the reliability of both the report and the researcher.

The report on the inspection of the TSF1 facility for possible leakage, by a team of researchers from Naresuan University and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, has already been published. It confirmed one of the most important controversial claims surrounding the conflict over the gold mine – that the TSF1 tailing storage facility had leaked.

“Every stakeholder should accept this research conclusion that the gold mine really caused the environmental and health impacts to the local communities, while the government must have clear and urgent plans to mitigate the impacts from the leakage of TSF1,” Chainarong said.

That finding of leakage was seen by many as very significant, especially considering the ongoing arbitration proceedings between Kingsgate Consolidated and the Thai government over a closure order brought against the mine.

The research result might be used to support the Thai government’s decision to suspend the gold mine’s operations.

TSF1, a disposal area for tailings and slag, has been filled and closed, but it was found to contain heavy metals and cyanide from mining byproducts, despite Akara’s claim that tailings had been treated to attenuate cyanide concentrations and 75 per cent of water at TSF1 had been reused.

Prior to the recent report, residents suspected that mine pollution had contaminated the environment, so the study began as part of a fact-finding committee’s examinations of the gold mine’s alleged problems.

According to the report of the research team led by Tanapon Phenrat from Naresuan University, the inspection used geophysics techniques such as the transient electromagnetic (TEM) method and the electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) method.

The inspection found electrical resistance abnormalities at the bottom and wall of TSF1, which indicated the water leaked from the well, as water from TSF1 had a different electrical resistance than water in the outside environment.

The report also highlighted sulphate levels at the gold mine’s observation wells number 6468, 5339, 6473, 6691 and 5338 found to be higher than the average levels in the area.

The water samples from these observation wells and from water springs in paddy fields near the mine also showed similar geochemical characteristics, leading researchers to conclude that contaminated water from TSF1 had leaked from fractured rock at a deeper level and through lateral channels at shallower levels.

Additional evidence of leakage included very high arsenic levels in observation well 5338. Although researchers concluded that arsenic found in the well did not directly come from TSF1, leaked water, which was rich in methane and ammonia, could chemically react with iron sulphide that can be found in the well, resulting in the release of arsenic into the environment.

That assumption was confirmed by arsenic database monitoring, which showed that the intensity of arsenic in the well continued to rise sharply for about six years after the gold mine opened.

Researchers concluded the spring water in paddy fields near the gold mine was also contaminated by TSF1, based on findings that the water showed characteristics of industrial wastewater with high chemical oxygen demand, but low biological oxygen demand.

Samples also showed similar levels of ammonia and sulphate contamination to the samples from TSF1.

From these findings, researchers suggested there should be an immediate risk assessment of people’s health and the environment due to the leakage. They also recommended a full survey of the area to establish the extent of contamination by the chemicals of concern, including arsenic, manganese and cyanide.

There have been reports of sicknesses among the people living around the gold mine, with blood and urine tests in 2014 and 2015 showing that many people exhibiting harmful levels of cyanide, manganese and arsenic.

“The most important issue that the related agencies have to execute first is the impacts to the people’s health. The local residents around the gold mine have been suffering from the illnesses for a very long time, but there is still no concrete measure to help the people,” Chainarong said.

He said that in the period since Akara’s gold mine had stopped operations as a result of a government order to close the gold mine last year, relief efforts to get clean food and water distributed to the affected people had ceased. Authorities should immediately help these people and consider their petition to relocate them out of the affected area, he added.

Chainarong also highlighted the need to urgently address the need for environmental restoration, as the leakage had already caused the pollutants to contaminate the outside environment.

“All related agencies such as Industry Ministry, Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, and Public Health Ministry should start working on the environmental restoration now, as this is really a very urgent and serious problem,” he said.

“It is very important that the work on environmental restoration must be done based on the knowledge of environmental engineering, and include public participation in the process, otherwise the restoration plan will not be fruitful and only a waste of the country’s budget.”

Chainarong also criticised the Primary Industries and Mines Department for what he viewed as idleness in solving the problems from the gold mining operation. He said the department’s stance leaned towards benefiting the gold mine operator rather than protecting the interests of the country and it people.

Akara Resources has disputed the study’s methodology and findings in an attachment to the report. It highlights concerns that the geophysics methodologies of TEM and ERI were improper and had too many limitations to be considered to prove leakage. The company also argued that the report misinterpreted and ignored many facts from the perspective of the gold mine.

Leading researcher Tanapon’s expertise on geophysics was also questioned by the company, including a claim that he had jumped to the conclusion that TSF1 had leaked based on his own opinions.

A five-kilometre-radius rabies quarantine zone was announced yesterday in Suan Luang District, as a dog at Soi On Nut 36 was found to be infected with the disease.

Livestock Development Department deputy director Jeerasak Pipattanapongsophon said the dog had bitten its owner and had also been in direct contact with four other dogs.

Jeerasak revealed that the owner found that the dog had been hit by a car in Samut Prakan’s Bang Pli district, so he had taken it to a veterinary hospital and adopted it as his pet.

However, the dog became more aggressive and bit the owner and later, last Saturday, laboratory tests confirmed that the dog was infected with rabies. The owner and four other dogs at his house have since had rabies vaccinations.

The other confirmed rabies cases were reported in Don Muang, Bang Khen, Bang Sue and Chatuchak districts.

Meanwhile, 86 people in Nakhon Si Thammarat have received rabies vaccinations after having direct contact with nine dogs diagnosed with the virus, a senior public health officer said yesterday.

Phaisarn Kua-aroon, the chief public health officer for the Nakhon Si Thammarat province, said the nine dogs were in Thungsong district (three), Cha-uad district (two) and one each in Chalerm Phrakiart, Thung Yai, Chulabhorn and Chianyai districts.

The province has been declared a yellow zone for rabies infection following the finding, Phaisarn added, and pet owners should immediately take their animals for a rabies vaccine.

Six people have died from rabies this year and there have been 484 cases of rabies infections in animals since the New Year.

However, Dr Mingsarn Kaosa-Ard, an independent director, had earlier tendered her resignation from the ITD board due to the Tungyai Naresuen issue. Premchai Karnasuta, ITD’s president and major shareholder, has been accused of killing an endangered black leopard and other wildlife during a recent visit to the conservation site in Kanchanaburi province.

Worawud Hiranpaisansakul, secretary of ITD, said in a letter to the SET that the company’s board had held a meeting on this issue, which might have an impact on the company.

However, the board shared its opinion that the issue did not result from the company’s performance or business activities, but rather was a consequence of its top executive facing an investigation into alleged wrongdoings.

ITD’s letter stressed that the court will have the final authority to make a judgement and that the accused is still legally innocent at this stage.

However, the ITD board has pledged to fully cooperate with authorities and will follow the development closely with regard to short-, medium- and long-term impacts on the company.

Earlier, the board also acknowledged the resignation of Dr Mingsarn as its independent director, effective March 16.

Mingsarn, who was previously a member of ITD’s audit committee, is a well-known academic with numerous works on economic, natural resources and environmental issues, as well as the director of Chiang Mai University’s Public Policy Studies Institute.

Mingsarn’s high profile and track record in these fields prompted her to resign from the ITD board earlier this month.

The Tungyai Naresuen issue has seriously affected the company’s public image with severe criticism of Premchai, the company’s long-time president, especially on social media sites.

ITD, which closed at Bt3.18, down 1.24 per cent, on Friday, has been one of the country’s largest construction contractors for the past several decades, with annual revenues of hundreds of billion baht.

The company was founded by Premchai’s father, Dr Chaiyudh Karnasuta, as a joint venture with an Italian partner. Over the past several decades, the firm has carved out a major share of the country’s public infrastructure market, winning multi-billion-baht contracts for the construction of airports, seaports, highways, elevated and underground mass transit lines, railways and other projects.

Despite a history going back three centuries, the highly controversial and politically sensitive proposed Kra Canal mega-project in southern Thailand is once again up for debate.

At a forum held yesterday by Rangsit University entitled the “Stakeholders in Kra Canal@Klong Thai”, national security and the canal’s impact on tourism were among the main issues of concern as experts made their cases for and against the project.

The forum urged the government to set up a national committee to conduct a feasibility study on all concerned aspects of the “New Gateway to Maritime Silk Road” project.

General Pongthep Thesprateep, chairman of Thai Canal Association (TCA) – a group of influential former top brass soldiers advocating the project – called on the government to set up a national committee that can help reach a decisive conclusion on the long-envisioned channel that would run through the country’s southern isthmus.

“The project has both pros and cons, so if the committee concludes that the canal would benefit the country it should be pursued, otherwise the proposed project can be scrapped,” Pongthep said, referring to many discussions about the project in Thai society for more than a century that had led to no clear decision.

According to a study by TCA, he said the canal would benefit the country as it would connect the Indian and Pacific oceans and dramatically shorten East-West shipping routes. The TCA study claims that 65 per cent of people in the South, which will be affected by the project, were agreeable to it.

Anek Laothamatas, the Political Reform Committee chairman who was introduced at the forum as an expert on the route proposal for the canal, said that in ancient times people travelled by sea hence he thought Thailand needed to exercise its “sea power”, as the Kingdom has an advantage in geo-politics.

Thailand is among a few countries that benefits from its location between two oceans – Pacific and Indian – while China, a country 20 times bigger than Thailand, has access to only one ocean, Anek said.

“It’s not a big deal or a new matter. We should not be afraid. We should be brave [to make a decision]. Our country has developed to this stage because we are linked to the sea. We should not see it as an obstruction but a linkage with others,” he said.

Samart Ratchapolsitte, former Bangkok deputy governor and ex-Democrat MP, suggested that the government treat the project as state policy and initiate a Southern Economic Corridor similar to its Eastern Economic Corridor initiative.

Samart supported the setting up of a national committee to study the project as he was concerned about the worthiness of the project or how many cargo ships would use the new route, as compared to the existing routes.

An opponent of the canal project, Admiral Jumpol Loompikanon, a deputy permanent secretary at the Defence Ministry, said the country needed to balance geo-politics and geo-economics.

Jumpol, a Royal Thai Navy spokesman and a member of the marine and coastal resources strategy panel, added that judging from the past he was worried about disputes arising between super powers and neighbouring countries. He cited the conflict over the Spratly Islands between China and the Philippines.

He said it was difficult for security agencies to decide whether to pursue the project because more comprehensive information was still needed.

Thon Thamrongnawasawat, the deputy dean of the fisheries faculty at Kasetsart University, raised concerns over the impact on tourism and environment if a canal was dug as proposed.

The proposed route will pass some tourist attractions in the South, including Phuket and Krabi.

The tourism industry generates around Bt3 trillion for the country annually and is ranked number three in the world, according to a report of the World Tourism Organisation, he said.

Torn did not express an opinion on the project but cautioned about the dangers to tourism and the environment, citing the oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand, off the coast of Koh Samet and Map Ta Phut in Rayong Province in 2013.

“What is the risk management going to be like? The proposed canal route would run past tourist areas in the Andaman Sea that generate about 40 per cent or almost Bt2 trillion of the total revenue from the tourism industry,” he added.

Former Second Army commander Lt-General Tawatchai Samutsakorn, who supported the idea of setting up a committee to study the project, said Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha had told him that the premier would not be in power long enough to pursue the project.

“Prayut told me that the right time [for the project] has yet to come,” Tawatchai, a former classmate of Prayut, told the forum.

However, Tawatchai, who serves as vice chairman of TCA, believes any political party campaigning for the proposed man-made waterway, which will link the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, could win at least 10,000 votes from voters in each of the southern provinces in the next election.

Tawatchai claimed that former prime minister and chief adviser of the Democrat Party, Chuan Leekpai, whose political stronghold lies in the South, supported the project and said if the country delays making progress, it would lag behind other countries.

Police and the Transport Ministry have also proposed harsher punishments for motorists driving without a licence, Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Khongcheep Tantrawanich said yesterday.Khongcheep, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, attended yesterday’s meeting of the Road Safety Policy Committee in Bangkok to consider a master plan for road safety for 2017-20 and discuss measures for the Songkran holidays.

To address public concerns following a major accident involving a double-decker coach, Prawit confirmed that starting 2015 licences for giant buses were not being renewed. The DLT was also tasked with ensuring double-decker coaches already on the road met adequate safety standards, he added.

The latest case involving a double-decker coach occurred on Wednesday night in Nakhon Ratchasima province, killing 18 people and injuring 32 others.

The coach driver, Krissana Juthacheun, 44, has been charged with three serious offences: reckless driving causing death and injuries, failing to stop to provide aid to injured passengers and having narcotic substances in his body while driving.

He tested positive for drug use and confessed to having taken yaba pills during the 50-strong tour group’s trip to Chanthaburi province, said Provincial Police Region 3 chief Pol Lt-General Damrongsak Kittiprapat.

The group was returning to Kalasin at the time of Wednesday’s crash.

Krissana, who sustained slight wounds on his right arm, was spotted the following day in the area seven kilometres from the scene and was taken into custody.

Krissana said he drove the coach downhill at a “moderately high speed” and had a brake malfunction resulting in the crash, after which he fled for fear of being punished for so many deaths.

After inspection, Damrongsak said police suspected the driver did not use a low gear during the six-kilometre-long downhill road section but kept tapping on the air brake pedal for control until the system was out of air.

The driver also was speeding as GPS data showed the bus was moving at 83kph in an area limited to 60kph, Damrongsak added.

Police also found Krissana had been arrested for drug abuse five times in the past since 2011 – with the latest arrest in October 2013.

Police will proceed with legal action against Kan Eng Tour Co for failing to submit the coach for inspection for over a year – the law requires it be inspected twice a year – and for allowing a drug abuser to drive the vehicle.

Meanwhile, Kalasin Governor Kraisorn Kongchalard urged South East Insurance Co to pay Bt650,000 compensation to the families of the 18 who had died. He said trained officials would provide mental health rehabilitation/grief counselling to the affected people for two months.

The neighbourhood home of this Good Samaritan on Soi On Nuj 36 in Bangkok’s Suan Luang district has now been declared an “at-risk zone”.

“We need to make the declaration to raise public awareness of the rabies situation,” Livestock Development Department (LDD) deputy director-general Jeerasak Pipattanapongsophon said yesterday.

The Good Samaritan found the dog after it was hit by a car and injured on a road in Samut Prakan’s Bang Phli district on March 17.

The dog was rushed to a nearby veterinary hospital, treated and brought to the Good Samaritan’s home.

At its new home, it became aggressive and bit many people. After it died on March 20, an examination found it had died of rabies.

Rabies can cause deaths to mammals, including people. This year, it has already killed six people in Thailand.

Jeerasak said the case in Suan Luang was the first instance of rabies in Bangkok this month.

No outbreak in Bangkok

At present, 25 provinces in Thailand have been declared “rabies outbreak zones”. The declaration is valid for 30 days after an outbreak is detected.

Bangkok is among 11 provinces whose 30-day declaration has expired.

Jeerasak said there was no need to declare Bangkok an outbreak zone again, with just one rabid dog found as of press time.

“Besides, I think public awareness of rabies is now already significant,” he said.

Pet owners also need to be aware of the need to vaccinate their animals against rabies. Failure to do so is a legal offence.

The Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chon Buri province has now barred tourists from bringing their pets on-site out of concern that the visiting pets could transmit rabies to the zoo animals.

In the face of growing rabies concerns, the Phayao University is in the process of rounding up more than 100 stray dogs in its compound.

“We are running a permanent shelter for them. They are registered and vaccinated,” said the university’s vice president, Asst Professor Pranee Yoosiri.

She said animal lovers were welcome to adopt these strays. Many people have already come forward seeking to adopt them, she added.

In Tak province, officials and volunteers were busy campaigning against rabies yesterday. Dr Sarayuth Uttamangkapong, who heads a local disease-control office, said building shelters for stray dogs was a good idea because it could help prevent the spread of rabies.

The ministry’s deputy permanent secretary, Surapong Jiasakul, heads the probe.

“We will find out if any person claimed illegitimate gains,” Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Grisada Boonrach said yesterday.

He said representatives from various organisations had been invited to join the ministry’s fact-finding committee so as to ensure a transparent probe.

It was reported recently that a firm belonging to the wife of Pairoj Hangsaengchai, a veterinarian and former deputy director-general at |the Livestock Development Department (LDD), had long supplied rabies vaccines to the LDD.

“Even the LDD chief will have to be investigated for alleged negligence,” Grisada said. “If the state suffered damages, officials involved shall be held accountable.”

An official convicted of abuse of authority or negligence is liable to a jail term of up to 10 years and/or a fine of up to Bt20,000, he noted.