THE health condition of His Majesty the King is still unstable, with falling blood pressure, rapid pulse and higher acidosis, the 38th statement from the Royal Household Bureau said as of press time last night.
Blood tests have indicated blood infection and abnormal liver function.
Doctors have prescribed antibiotics as well as medication for acidosis and blood pressure. The King is also using a ventilator and undergoing Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy. Medical teams are closely monitoring His Majesty’s condition, the statement said.
Hundreds of well-wishers dressed in yellow or pink flocked to Siriraj Hospital yesterday to pray and express hope for the King’s speedy recovery.
HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, has been receiving treatment at this hospital for several years. As the world’s longest- reigning monarch, who was enthroned in 1946, the King commands enormous love and respect from the people. Most members of the Royal Family, including HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, visited the beloved monarch yesterday. Many loyal subjects also gathered to pay their respects at the monument of the King’s father, Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, in the hospital compound and recited a Buddhist prayer for the King’s good health.
Some people promised to spend the night at the hospital to pray for the speedy recovery of their beloved King, while some who chose to go home said they would return to the hospital again today.
Phufah Arthornprachachit who travelled from Chiang Rai province, said she left home immediately after learning about it on social media. “I will stay here to send him best wishes and moral support,” she said tearfully.
Earlier, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha cut short his scheduled trip to Chon Buri and returned to Bangkok, with reports initially indicating that he would make a public statement.
Government Spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd denied the premier would make an urgent statement later yesterday as was widely speculated on social media. Prayut returned to Bangkok to prepare a report for the Crown Prince, he said and added the PM would have to report the current situation to the Crown Prince if he were granted an audience. “People should not panic or believe rumours on social media,” Sansern said.

Meanwhile, Samut Songkhram officials are planning to set up a “war room” to coordinate efforts to establish whether a toxic wastewater substance is responsible.
At least 49 stingrays have been found dead in the Mae Klong River in recent weeks. “Giant freshwater stingrays must be protected. They are indicators of abundance,” Prayut said yesterday after emerging from the Cabinet meeting.
The Mae Klong River runs through three provinces, including Samut Songkhram and Ratchaburi that have seen stingray deaths during the past week. The river is connected to two other rivers from Samut Sakhon and Phetchaburi.
“We will have to urgently convene a meeting of authorities involved in these five provinces,” Samut Songkhram Governor Kanchat Tansathian said yesterday.
“We need to determine first what caused the stingray deaths. If it is confirmed that toxic substances are the cause, we then can move further to identify who released them into waterways,” Kanchat said.
He was speaking after he met with relevant officials in his province and also representatives from civil and environmental groups.
“We will examine sediments in detail again,” Kanchat said.
Dr Nantarika Chansue, who heads the Veterinary Medical Aquatic animal Research Centre at the Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Veterinary Science, suspects the stingrays died of after ingesting toxic substances.
“Blood tests show chemicals with toxicity to kidney and gum systems were found in the bodies of stingrays that we have rescued from the Mae Klong River,” she said.
She discounted that the recent stingray deaths could be due to illness, pointing out that the rescued stingrays had apparently eaten food. “Stingrays won’t eat if they fall ill,” she said.
According to the Fisheries Department, the two rescued stingrays are pregnant. They are being nursed back to health at a research centre in Samut Songkhram.
The department’s deputy director-general Meesak Pakdeekong said his agency had also joined the efforts to determine the cause of the stingray deaths.
He said it would be difficult to identify where wastewater – if any – was discharged into the Mae Klong River to worsen the water quality to a point that killed the stingrays.
“Samut Songkhram sits by the seaside. There are low tides and high tides involved. There are also rain factors. The Mae Klong River is also winding,” Meesak said.
Bandhit Pansawat, a coordinator for the Self-Managed Samut Songkhram Group, said authorities had accepted information gathered by his network.
“This is a good step. Next, we are in the process of conducting a signature campaign in support of our plan to attract integrated, national attention to protect the Mae Klong River,” he said.

The two had confessed to the crime, Provincial Police Region 4 acting chief Pol Maj-General Jatupol Panraksa told the press yesterday.
The body of the second grader who attended Ban Nong Moung-Lup Kha School was found covered in twigs and leaves on Monday morning under a tree behind Wat Sawang Khongkaram.
Authorities estimated that the boy had been killed 24 hours before he was found and reported that his corpse showed injuries consonant with sodomy.
Khon Kaen police deputy chief Pol Colonel Jaraspat Suttayasoranakom said Niran Chanayut, 36, who had already been disrobed, had previously been wanted for a 2007 Bangkok robbery case but he apparently had been ordained as a monk and been living at the monastery since the beginning of Buddhist Lent this year.
The man allegedly had sexual relations with teenagers in the village and reportedly had asked the 15-year-old to lure the six-year-old.
According to police investigators, the boy had been playing with friends in the temple compound on Sunday before being called by a monk into his living quarters. He was not seen alive again.
Police took DNA samples from both suspects and said the teenager had confessed to suffocating the boy until he passed out before he and Niran took turns raping him.
The temple’s abbot Phra Athikarn Sommai Khantiko said he and people in the village knew about Niran’s criminal record, but people tolerated him because he was a native resident who people hoped would be redeemed by the monkhood.
“When he first came to the temple, I told him not to bring teenagers over, but he refused to comply. He also did not take part in any temple activities, until everybody was fed up with him. We did not do anything because we knew he had done bad things in the past,” he said.

AS MANY as 10,000 people in Kayin State in Myanmar have been displaced due to fighting over the Hat Gyi Dam construction site, as plans move forward to begin building on the Salween River.

Activists have reported a human rights crisis in the area as more than 1,000 refugees have been trapped in two small villages near the border with Thailand and lack proper housing, basic facilities and food.
Fighting erupted last month between the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) insurgent group and the government-affiliated Border Guard Force (BGF) in an area opposite Mae Tha Waw in Tak’s Tha Song Yang district (Kayin State was formerly known as Karen State after the ethnic group that have long inhabited that area).
Karen Cultural and Development Centre director Surapong Kongchantuk said thousands of people had been forced to leave their homes and were struggling to survive in wartime conditions without substantial aid from international human rights organisations.
“My co-workers have found two villages that were packed with crowds of refugees. They have to live in temporary shelters made from bamboo and tent fabric. They are unable to sustain themselves and have no access to fundamental services,” Surapong said.
He said most of the refugees were women and children, many of whom were babies who needed proper food. At present, the refugees only food supply is rice and salt contributed by outside aid.
“The villages heavily depended on help from volunteer groups. My co-workers were there to help refugees with food and supplements from Thailand. Our team also has medical personnel, who can perform basic health checks and provide medical advice to the refugees, but that is all that we can do,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Karen volunteer in the area who asked not to be named said many people had tried to flee to Thailand but were barred at the border, although some Myanmar nationals had managed to cross into the Kingdom.
“The refugees have nowhere to go. They cannot go forward and they cannot return. Right now people in Naw Tak and Htee Thay Kee village survive just because of our help,” the source said.
“There is still no humanitarian aid from any official agency or international organisation. These people are in a very desperate situation.”
The source added that people could not forage for food in the forest because of landmines in the area that have killed and injured many people.
She said many of the refugees told her they had fled from the Hat Gyi Dam construction area, which had become a battleground between the DKBA and BGF, with some walking for almost 24 hours to seek safety.
“We estimate that as many as 10,000 people were affected by the fighting to secure the dam construction site and we believe that there are many more villages that are crowded with refugees in other areas,” she said.
“The people want peace more than anything.”
Surapong urged stakeholders, such as Thailand’s EGAT International (EGATi), the main investor in the dam project, to work together to stop the bloodshed.
EGATi is one of four investors of the project, along with China’s Sinohydro Corporation, Myanmar’s Ministry of Electric Power and the International Group of Entrepreneurs. EGATi has an estimated Bt100 billion investment.
Hat Gyi Dam, sited on the Salween 47 kilometres downstream from Ban Sop Moei in Mae Hong Son, is supposed to produce 1,360 megawatts of electricity.
Under the project proposal Thailand would import electricity generated at the dam, as well as irrigation water to fill Bhumipol Dam for drought relief.
Surapong said fighting was spurred by an effort to clear the area of DKBA influence to establish a safe zone for dam construction.
“Not only is there the humanitarian crisis caused by the dam construction, if the dam is built, large areas will be flooded and large numbers of people displaced forever. Areas in Thailand will be affected as well, including Ban Sop Moei,” he said.

HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, now 88, has been receiving treatment at Siriraj Hospital for several years.
“I am wearing pink for my beloved King,” Urisara Kowitdamrong said from her office in Bangkok. “All my family members are also in pink today.”
Pink looks set to become a big trend again, repeating the phenomenon that grabbed Thais in 2007 when the colour was said to be good for the much-revered monarch’s health.
Jirawan Viriyasiri, a former bank employee, said: “I wear pink to express my loyalty and deep concerns for HM the King’s health… I plan to wear this colour as often as I can. If possible, I want to wear it every day to show my best wishes to the King.”
Sitting on the throne since 1946, the King has commanded much love and respect from his people. He is also the world’s longest reigning monarch.
On Sunday, the Royal Household Bureau released a statement on the King that said his condition was not stable. This spurred a huge number of Thais, concerned about his well being, to begin praying for His Majesty to have better health. Many posted messages on social media wishing him a quick recovery. They also started wearing pink to show their love for the monarch.
Nusara Nacharoen said she had never hesitated to show her respect for the King. “I plan to wear pink this whole week,” she said.
Nusara said she was always keen to do whatever she could to show her loyalty and moral support for the King. “I also joined a religious praying rite held for his recovery,” she said.
A map of Thailand painted pink with the message “Thailand will be pink tomorrow” was also shared on social media many times yesterday.
Many people wearing pink headed to the Siriraj Hospital yesterday to write get-well messages and pray for His Majesty to recover.
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha along with his wife, plus military leaders, members of the National Council for Peace and Order, and Cabinet ministers, left well-wishes for the monarch at Sala Sahathai Samakhom in the Grand Palace, while wearing pink and yellow.
The pink trend has spread across all provinces too.
In Yala in the far South, a resident said she put on pink clothes after finding a message on a chat application that pink would be good for the King’s health. “I wish him a quick recovery,” she said.
In Ranong province, Kanrawee Charoenvipasjet, 36, said wearing pink was her way of showing best wishes and loyalty to His Majesty. “We are praying for him too,” she said.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha also said the government was considering additional aid for people who sacrificed their farmland to retain floodwater, on top of existing compensation for inundated farms, at up to 15 rai per case.
He said the government would soon arrange for farmers in water-retention areas to follow a “farming calendar” to ensure they grow crops in alternate turns with their downstream peers.
Prayut said farmers would be taught about water systems, crop growing, harvesting and use of technology, as well as rice marketing.
Meanwhile, the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) pledged to drain water into the Gulf of Thailand as soon as possible to spare Bangkok and surrounding areas from flooding.
RID deputy director-general Narong Leenanon said water was passing through the Bang Sai Sluice Gate in Ayutthaya at the controllable rate of 2,172 cubic metres per second, and it would be diverted into irrigation waterways on eastern and western sides of the capital into the sea.
With more rain forecast for Friday and Saturday, the RID had released large volumes of water via the Chao Phraya and Pasak Jolasid dams into sea.
Narong said “monkey cheek” water-retention areas in Thung Chao Phraya could greatly alleviate runoffs while residents in Thung Pamok, Thung Phak Hai and Thung Bang Ban had also stored water for the next crop-growing season. He said Pasak Jolasid Dam had received less runoff at 51 million cubic metres, and since it released 60 million cubic metres a day it should have enough capacity for incoming rainfall.
Narong said that calls to open the Thung Chao Chet sluice gate were not feasible as there were 100,000 downstream rai of unharvested rice paddies.
In Ayutthaya province, Phra Nakhon Sri Ayutthaya Municipality workers yesterday built an earthen dyke in Tambon Tha Wasukri to protect the 200-home inner community area from flooding and planned to build another dyke near an Army vehicle-repairing factory if the river rose further.
Ang Thong province residents erected sandbag barriers as the Chao Phraya River continued to rise, while 725 homes in three districts were already inundated.
In Lop Buri’s Ban Mee district where 3,000 rai of almost-ripe rice fields were flooded, many farmers waded in to harvest their produce to try and recoup some of their capital. But they were reportedly pressed to sell the grain at between Bt3,000 and Bt4,000 per tonne.
In the Northeast, Khon Kaen’s Ubolrat Dam was at 80-per-cent capacity. While receiving more than 45 million cubic metres of water a day, it continued to release 14 million cubic metres daily.
Maha Sarakham province yesterday urged Khon Kaen to have |the dam lower its water release |rate temporarily because they wanted to minimise the impact of the deluge from Chaiyaphum, which would reach Maha Sarakham in two days.
In Kalasin, overflows from the Chi River inundated 2,243 rai of rice fields in Khong Chai, Rong Kham and Kamalasai districts.