Barkar Nash (Page 1,111)

Airport operator to hire third party to check all parts in response to accident in which woman lost leg

Airports of Thailand Plc (AOT) has concluded that a collapsed plate on a moving walkway caused a woman to fall and her leg to be severed at Don Mueang airport last month.

AOT president Kerati Kijmanawat said on Wednesday that investigation found that the moving walkway between Gates 4 and 5 of the second domestic terminal had a problem when one of its metal plates became detached from its frame, creating an opening.

Consequently a traveller fell into the mechanism and was seriously injured, said Mr Kerati, referring to the incident that happened at 8.21am on June 29. The victim was a 57-year-old woman who was about to board a flight to the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The woman had to endure an emergency amputation of her left leg above the knee by medical personnel at the scene before being rushed to the nearby Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital where her condition was stabilised. 

She was later taken to Bumrungrad Hospital for further surgery and treatment. Her family later said they would file a complaint with police against the airport operator.

All 20 moving walkways at Don Mueang were suspended from service pending inspections and necessary upgrades.

The investigation into the accident was carried out by a committee including representatives from AOT, the Ministry of Transport, the Engineering Institute of Thailand, the Council of Engineers and an independent academic.

Mr Kerati apologised for the incident and promised AOT would cover the woman’s treatment costs and give her the best compensation.

He said that AOT would hire a third party to check all parts of all moving walkways at Don Mueang airport and also evaluate the maintenance standards of airport staff. It also intends to install sensors to detect any defects in plates on moving walkways.

Twenty moving walkways at Don Mueang airport were installed by Hitachi Co of Japan in 1996 and its certified local dealer, Siam Hitachi, has maintained them regularly ever since, airport management said earlier.

In a related development, the AOT board on Wednesday approved the transfer of Don Mueang general manager Karant Thanakuljeerapat to AOT as an adviser, effective from Oct 1. He will be succeeded by Vijit Kaewsaitiam, the current director of Chiang Mai airport.

People who betray their parties rarely make it back at the next election, says Wan

House speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha has warned MPs against betraying the trust of the people by turning into “cobras” in parliament.

Mr Wan, who is also the Parliament president, told a recent seminar on the roles and duties of MPs that the real power belongs to the people and is exercised through their elected representatives.

“It’s a mistake to think that the electorate are mere holders of voting rights. That’s a total misconception of the democratic principle,” he said.

MPs who regularly consult their constituents rarely go wrong in performing their duty as lawmakers, Mr Wan noted.

The seminar was the first induction held on the lawmakers’ roles for MPs elected in the May 14 general election.

Mr Wan added that the MPs should stay focused and dedicate themselves to their parliamentary work and not lose interest in attending House meetings.

The House speaker said some MPs were not re-elected after they had allowed themselves to turn into “cobras”.

This was a reference to those who were bankrolled to vote in parliament in defiance of their respective parties’ stances.

“Throughout the years I’ve been an MP, I have yet to see a single ‘cobra’ make it back into parliament. Take the tale of the 40 ‘cobra’ MPs as an example,” he said.

Mr Wan is understood to have been referring to the alleged collusion to purge Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha through censure votes in 2021.

The plot to stage a revolt had taken place days prior to the no-confidence debate. Gen Prayut was the prime target of the debate that centred largely on the government’s failures to manage the Covid-19 situation and corruption.

The revolt initially drew around 40 MPs who reportedly included some from the ruling Palang Pracharath Party itself, although Gen Prayut’s supporters in the coalition managed to convince more than half of the MPs to backtrack.

Gen Prayut eventually managed to survive the censure motion.

Mr Wan, who quit as Prachachat Party leader to become House speaker, said MPs must be receptive to changes in society and adjust accordingly.

Bangkok governor calls for checks in Huai Khwang following Chinese expat’s video

Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt has ordered the Huai Khwang district chief to strictly enforce laws and regulations on Chinese-funded businesses in the district.

The order on Wednesday came after a recent video on TikTok by a Chinese expat who posted a review about living in Thailand.

He started the video by saying that he could easily live in the country, even though he could not speak any Thai.

The video showed a day in his life, noting that he relied mostly on Chinese restaurants and supermarkets, both in the Huai Khwang area, as well as using Chinese-based delivery applications to order food. The delivery driver was also seen speaking Chinese fluently.

The video sparked criticism among Thai netizens, with some mockingly calling the area “Monthon Tai Guo (Thailand Province of China)”.

Some were concerned about the area being converted into “Little China” and being dominated by Chinese-funded businesses.

Mr Chadchart said these businesses can help stimulate the economy. But he also wanted to ensure these Chinese-funded businesses to strictly follow laws and regulations, adding that some operating in the Huai Khwang area had been closed by City Hall for violating the Food Act regarding imported food.

He said he had ordered the district office to keep an eye on Chinese-funded businesses, especially restaurants and illegal businesses.

City Hall cannot interfere with their business registrations, however, as they are the responsibility of the Ministry of Commerce, he said.

In any case, he said, all will be inspected, especially food and drink businesses, to make sure they follow the Public Health Act.

Chinese-funded businesses can be considered quality competitors, but they must respect consumers’ safety, Mr Chadchart said.

He also talked about the current tourism trend in Bangkok after episodes of foreign television series were broadcast recently featuring local restaurants and attractions.

As many foreign creators shot their content in Thailand, especially in Bangkok, Mr Chadchart said this is a golden opportunity to promote tourism and persuade more foreigners to visit the country.

PHANGNGA: A six-year-old Egyptian girl died after falling off a popular waterfall in Muang district of this southern tourist province on Wednesday.

The girl, whose name was withheld, and her parents were among a tour group of six people who were visiting the Ton Pariwat waterfall, also known as Ton Song Phraek, in tambon Song Phreak on Wednesday.

The girl went missing after falling off the waterfall at about 1.30pm, said officials at the provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office.

After a 30-minute search, the team found the body of the girl trapped among the rocks. Her body was taken to Phangnga Hospital.

Sixty-two macaques were abandoned by fleeing wildlife traffickers intercepted by a goverment border patrol in Nong Khai province on Wednesday morning.

A team of police, soldiers and local officials spotted a box pickup truck stopping on the bank of the Mekong River in Ratana Wapi district around 5.30am. At the same time, eight men in a long-tail boat pulled into the river bank, walked to the parked vehicle and began unloading a cage from the back of the truck.

The patrol moved in to question the men, who immediately dropped everything and fled, abandoning the parked vehicle. They left behind three iron cages and one plastic cage containing a total of 62 live macaques.

The seizure of the animals was announced by Pol Col Phuvit Siripanit, chief of Ratana Wapi police, in the company of other senior officers and local officials involved in the operation.

He said it was believed the captured wild monkeys were being smuggled out of the country for use in laboratory testing abroad. The rescued animals would be placed in the care of the Phu Pha Man National Park’s animal rehabilitation centre. 

The parliament president has advised the Move Forward Party to shelve its request for the parliament to review last week’s rejection of the renomination of its leader Pita Limjaroenrat for prime minister, pending a court ruling.

House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, who is ex-officio parliament president, said on Wednesday the MFP should wait for the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the Ombudsman’s petition for a ruling on the joint sitting’s resolution, pushed through with the backing of appointed senators. 

The Constitutional Court’s ruling would have an effect on the parliament and all concerned, he said.

Mr Wan also said that his decision to postpone indefinitely the parliament’s next vote to select a prime minister, which had been scheduled for Thursday, was free of any political motive.

He made the decision because the Constitutional Court had still to consider the petition from the Office of the Ombudsman, which also asked for a postponement of the vote. 

If the court does not accept the matter for consideration, Mr Wan said, he could set a date for the next parliamentary vote right away.

Mr Pita failed to win a majority vote from both the House and the Senate to become prime minister on July 13.

He was renominated to a joint sitting on July 19 but the joint sitting rejected it on procedural grounds. Opponents argued it was in violation of parliamentary regulation 41, which prohibits the resubmission of a failed motion during the same parliamentary session.

Mr Pita’s supporters and many academics disagreed with the parliament’s resolution on July 19, arguing  that regulation 41 applies to general business, not the prime ministerial nomination, and asked the Constitutional Court through the Ombudsman to rule on the legality of Mr Pita’s renomination. 

Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra would be treated as an elderly prisoner and receive whatever medical treatment he may need if he is imprisoned on his planned return to Thailand on Aug 10, Corrections Department chief Ayut Sinthoppan said on Wednesday.

The department chief gave this assurance after Thaksin’s daughter announced her father would return to Thailand through Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport on August 10. Thaksin has previously said he would enter the justice process. 

When the former prime minister arrived at Don Mueang he would be met by immigration police and a record made of his arrest, Mr Ayut said.

Corrections Department officials would do whatever is ordered under a court warrant, he said. They would be at the court where the arrest warrant was issued. If the charges against the former prime minister ocurred in Bangkok, he would be taken to Bangkok Remand Prison if the court ordered his detention.

To date, the department had not received a court warrant for Thaksin.

Paetongtharn “Ung Ing’’ Shinawatra, one of three Pheu Thai candidates for prime minister, announced on Instagram on Wednesday that her father would arrive at Don Mueang airport on Aug 10.

Mr Ayut said Thaksin would b treated as an elderly inmate. If he had underlining illnesses he would receive medical treatment on the advice of a prison doctor. Thaksin would be quarantined at the prison hospital for Covid-19 testing for 10 days before being moved to a prison patient ward, as was the case with former Department of Special Investigation chief Tarit Pengdit, Mr Ayut said.

There was no timeframe for medical treatment. Doctors based at the prison would assess his condition, he said.

He denied reports that caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Kreu-ngam, as acting justice minister, had coordinated with the department regarding Thaksin’s return. He said Mr Wissanu had not been in contact with him.

Thaksin’s government was overthrown by a military coup on Sept 19, 2006, while he was overseas. He has since lived in self-exile, based in Dubai, except for a brief visit to Thailand in 2008.

During his absence, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions sentenced him to a total of 12 years imprisonment in four cases.

In the first case, the court found him guilty of abuse of power in his then-wife Khunying Potjaman’s purchase of state-owned land in Ratchadapisek area for less than the market value. In October 2008, he was sentenced to two years in prison. The 10-year statute of limitations on the court ruling expired in October 2018.

In the second case, Thaksin was sentenced to two years in prison after he was found guilty of malfeasance in a case concerning the two- and three-digit lottery.

In the third case, Thaksin was handed down three years in prison for abusing his position by authorising loans totaling 4 billion baht to Myanmar by the Export-Import Bank of Thailand. The loans were used to buy equipment from a telecoms firm owned by his family.

The fourth case resulted in a five-year prison sentence. The court found him guilty of using nominees to hold shares in a telecommunications company, Shin Corp, which is prohibited for any political office holder.

The statute of limitations has not expired in the second, third and fourth cases.