Residents of an ancient Buddhist community in the northern province of Phichit handed out alms to monks on Sunday to mark the long-held tradition of Visakha Puja Day.
Villagers in Muang district’s Dong Klang area were spotted sitting alongside the Khao Tok canal waiting for monks from Wat Dong Klang to paddle over in small boats on Sunday morning.
When the monks passed by, they were offered food and necessities in small round baskets.
The monks will spend the upcoming Buddhist Lenten period in the monastery.
After giving out alms, the villagers shifted to the temple to hear a sermon from abbot Phra Khru Wicharn Dhammasophit.
This tradition is observed by the villagers every year with the belief that they are building up merit for their next life.
Visakha Puja, also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima and Buddha Day, is traditionally observed by Buddhists in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Tibet and Mongolia. The day commemorates Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and passing.
Rescue workers took three hours to retrieve the body of a Romanian woman who plunged from the top of a Koh Samui waterfall where she had been swimming on Saturday.
Workers finally managed to retrieve the body of Nane-Iosana Bodea, 23, a Romanian national who lived in Austria, at 6.30pm, about three hours after police were alerted of the accident.
Bodea was staying at the Bang Po Village hotel in tambon Mae Nam on the north side of Koh Samui.
She and her boyfriend visited the Na Muang 2 Waterfall at noon on Saturday, according to Surat Thani tourism official Kritchakorn Chusri.
Na Muang police arrived at the scene to find Bodea unresponsive and without a pulse.
Pol Senior Sgt Maj Watcharin Phetnoo said the woman was visiting the top of the falls with her Austrian boyfriend when she plunged 20 metres down to the next level.
Rescuers had to use a long rope to lower the body from the fourth tier of the waterfall.
Her remains were sent to Koh Samui Hospital for an autopsy.
Kritchakorn, whose duty is to provide emergency help to foreign tourists, quoted the woman’s boyfriend as saying that they climbed to the top of the falls at noon.
The boyfriend said he and Bodea decided to swim in a small pool at the edge of the waterfall because the weather was hot. But the spot was slippery and the woman lost her footing and fell not long after the two got into the water.
The man said he ran down and found Bodia unconscious and barely breathing.
The tourist said he attempted to resuscitate her heart while shouting for help. His shouts attracted the attention of nearby Thai tourists, who alerted the police.
The boyfriend said Bodea died before rescuers arrived at the scene.
A search team continued combing areas around a Phuket beach on Sunday for a 76-year-old German woman who disappeared from her hotel six days ago.
The search for Barbara Elisabeth Monika Glag Lange is being conducted by district officials, tambon and village chiefs of Phuket’s Thalang district, as well as tourist and local chiefs. Officials from the Phuket International Airport and officials from Sirinat National Park have also joined the search.
Lange disappeared from her hotel on Monday and has not been seen since. Her family have said that she suffers from Alzheimer’s. Lange had reportedly wandered out of the hotel once before, but was spotted and brought back.
Search teams have been checking villages along Mai Khao Beach and the wooded area next to the beach.
Footage retrieved from CCTV showed a woman dressed in a blue top and black trousers at a spot between Mai Khao and Nai Yang beaches.
Phuket’s deputy governor Pichet Panapong, who is coordinating the search, said Lange arrived in Phuket on May 5 with her relatives and checked in at a hotel on Mai Khao Beach. She then walked out of the hotel that day and got lost before an official found her and escorted her back.
The deputy governor said her relatives and the hotel tried to locate her after she disappeared on May 9, but failed and decided to seek official help.
Footage from security cameras shows Lange heading south from the hotel to a spot between Tambon Sakhu and Tambon Mai Khao.
He said search teams have been sent out to conduct searches on both land and sea. An aerial search conducted by a Navy helicopter was also unable to spot the woman.
The land, sea and aerial search for the missing woman continued on Sunday, the deputy governor added.
Construction of the country’s widest bridge, spanning the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, is more than 72 per cent complete, the Expressway Authority of Thailand (EXAT) said on Sunday.
The eight-lane route runs parallel to Rama IX Bridge and is scheduled to open next year.
Costing 6.63 billion baht, the new bridge comes under the fourth contract for the expressway project covering Rama III, Dao Khanong and Western Outer Ring Road.
The project will facilitate travel between Bangkok and the west, EXAT said.
Construction of the two-kilometre-long cable-stayed bridge is being undertaken by Ch Karnchang Plc.
The construction period is 39 months and scheduled to be completed next year, EXAT said.
The slope of the bridge will be less steep than Rama IX Bridge to facilitate traffic flow. It is also designed to withstand winds of up to 270 kilometres per hour, equivalent to a tornado, it added.
The bridge will connect the six-lane elevated road, Bang Khlo intersection and two expressways – Chalerm Mahanakorn and Si Rat.
EXAT said it was cooperating with related agencies to have the bridge named in honour of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
“Once the bridge is completed, it will become a new landmark in Bangkok and facilitate traffic flow across the Chao Phraya,” it added.
Thailand has invited the US to invest in the Kingdom to mend broken linkages in the global supply chain, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Saturday.
The PM spoke after participating in the 2nd Asean-US Special Summit in Washington on Thursday and Friday. The summit marked 45 years of Asean-US relations.
Prayut said Thailand urged the US to engage more creatively with Asean to support sustainable recovery.
Bangkok also advised Washington to shift its focus away from using force towards humanitarian considerations, he added.
Prayut was speaking against a backdrop of war between Russia and Ukraine, which is disrupting global supply chains, as well as China’s increasing assertiveness in Southeast Asia.
“On regional issues and conflicts, we have supported [the US] in solving issues in a peaceful manner and paying attention to humanitarian issues,” Prayut said.
He added that world powers should hold talks as soon as possible to secure global peace.
“Powerful countries face the issue of how to ensure world peaceful and citizens’ safety and how to take care of humanitarian issues,” he added.
Prayut went on to say that Thailand and the US discussed trade and investment in future industries such as digital, clean energy and electric vehicles.
The Kingdom invited the US to invest or set up supply chains in Thailand to fill gaps, he said, adding that Thailand was a suitable hub for important global trade.
“I think we have to adjust in many aspects to keep up with global changes – especially in industry and the economy – and find ways to boost Thailand’s income and GDP in the future,” he said.
Prayut also said he was ready to host US president Joe Biden at the 29th Apec summits in November, to strengthen the bilateral relationship and promote strategic partnerships. Thailand is this year’s chair of Apec.
Meanwhile, Biden promised to continue backing Asean’s centrality and promote cooperation under Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
The US has also promised to spend over $150 million in initiatives to expand engagements with Asean in climate action, education, maritime cooperation and health security.
Both sides have also adopted the “Joint Vision Statement”, which sets out Asean and US commitment to advancing relations towards establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership in the future.
Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai will lead hundreds of representatives from Thailand’s energy, tourism and export sectors on a trip to Saudi Arabia from Sunday to Thursday (May 15-19). The trip aims to restore cooperation and investment after a decades-long freeze in Thai-Saudi relations.
Ties thawed in January when Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha paid an official visit to the desert kingdom.
Don will hold talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Investment Minister Khalid Bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih during next week’s trip.
Don and his team will also visit a festival to promote Thai halal food exports, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile Thai-Saudi investment and business-matching forums next week are expected to bring together about 300 participants, it added.
Don and his team will also visit the King Abdullah Economic City in Jeddah, and Al-‘Ula, a cultural heritage city, to explore ways to promote cooperation and investment in tourism and hospitality between the two countries.
Riyadh cut trade and diplomatic ties with Bangkok after the so-called Blue Diamond affair, in which the theft of jewels by a Thai worker from a Saudi palace in 1989 was followed by a series of killings of Saudi representatives in Thailand.
Public Health Ministry reported on Sunday (May 15) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 6,094 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, two of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad.
Death toll increased by 51, while 8,601 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
Cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022 are at 2,150,411.
Teenage Thai sprinter Puripol Boonson, 16, smashed the SEA Games record to grab the gold medal in the men’s 200 metres in Vietnam on Saturday.
Puripol catapulted out of the blocks at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, showing his rivals a clean pair of heels before crossing the finish line in 20.37 seconds.
His winning time smashed the old SEA Games record of 20.69 seconds set 23 years ago at the 1999 Brunei Games by Thai athlete Rianchai Seehawong.
Thailand won their first gold medal at the SEA Games on Wednesday, when the men’s pencak silat team beat favourites Indonesia in the final of the regu discipline.
The Thai delegation has targeted a haul of 112 gold medals from the Hanoi games.
The long-delayed bidding for the 142-billion-baht Orange Line mass-transit project has hit yet another snag, with a new dispute being sparked between Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) and the Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA).
Both sides have been involved in a long court battle after BTS filed three separate lawsuits against MRTA over the state agency’s change in bidding terms and subsequent cancellation of the bidding.
In the most recent round of conflict, BTS submitted a written request for the replacement of MRTA deputy governor Kittikorn Tanpao, who chairs the bidding selection committee.
BTS argues that it fears possible unfair treatment as it is already suing Kittikorn in a case filed with the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases, a high-ranking source at the Transport Ministry said.
This case is related to MRTA’s alleged unlawful revision of bidding terms and cancellation of the bidding. However, MRTA has refused to remove Kittikorn from the committee, arguing that his appointment is lawful and that the new round of bidding would be conducted in the presence of neutral observers under the Integrity Pact, the source said.
The new terms of reference should be completed later this month, with bidding likely to kick off by August.
In the new round, the MRTA will still combine the construction of the Orange Line’s western section with the right to operate and manage the entire line for 30 years, the source said.
A BTS executive said the company is prepared to participate in the new round of bidding but warned that if the MRTA and the selection panel insist on ditching the original terms, they will have to explain themselves to society.
The executive, who asked not to be named, hopes Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand will step in to ensure transparency.
“If the bidding had been held normally [under original terms], the project’s winner would have been announced long ago,” the source said.
The 35.9-kilometre-long Orange Line runs from Bang Khunnon in the west of the city to Min Buri in the east.
Construction of the eastern section from Min Buri to the Thailand Cultural Centre was about 93 per cent complete as of March-end. However, no services will be available until a contractor is chosen to build the western section and operate the entire project.
The legal dispute began in 2020 after the MRTA changed bidding terms, even though several envelopes with the original terms had been sold to potential bidders, including BTS.
BTS, which runs the two Skytrain lines and is building two monorail projects in the capital, has filed three lawsuits against the MRTA and the bidding selection committee. Two of the cases were rejected by the Supreme Administrative Court on grounds that the selection process falls under MRTA’s jurisdiction.
The man said he ran down and found Bodia unconscious and barely breathing.
The deputy governor said her relatives and the hotel tried to locate her after she disappeared on May 9, but failed and decided to seek official help.
The land, sea and aerial search for the missing woman continued on Sunday, the deputy governor added.
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