Barkar Nash (Page 891)

NAKHON RATCHASIMA – Sixteen students sustained injuries when their school bus struck a traffic light pole and overturned at an intersection in Kaeng Sanam Nang district of this northeastern province on Thursday morning.

The incident occurred at the intersection on Niwetrat Road, said Pol Lt Col Paphon Chaisaksri, investigation chief at Kaeng Sanam Nang police station, who was reported at 7.30am. 

Police and rescue workers rushing to the scene found the school bus overturned on the road. Sixteen students, aged 10-17, were hurt. All were sent to a local hospital. While three remained hospitalised the remaining 13 suffered minor injuries and were discharged after receiving treatment.

The driver, identified only as Chainarong, 52, told police that his bus was transporting 40 primary and secondary school students living in Kaeng Sanam Nang district to schools in Bua Yai district before the crash.

According to the driver’s account, as the traffic light was transitioning from green to red, he accelerated the engine in an effort to pass the intersection during rushing hours. However, he lost control of his vehicle, resulting in its impact against the traffic light pole and subsequent overturning.

Police charged him with reckless driving, which caused injuries and damage to public property.

Outgoing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Thursday that it was his last day of work at Government House, but he would continue to serve his role as a caretaker until the new cabinet’s inauguration.

After paying respects to the shrines at Government House on Thursday morning, Gen Prayut told reporters that he would leave Government House for the sake of appropriateness.

Gen Prayut said he wished for blessings upon all and the nation’s peace and prosperity.

“I wish today is a good day for you,” Gen Prayut told reporters at Government House.

Gen Prayut, the then-army chief, staged a coup d’etat on May 22, 2014, amid violent movements between pro- and anti-Yingluck Shinawatra government demonstrators. Days earlier he imposed the martial law. He was appointed as prime minister in August of the same year.

Following a general election on March 24, 2019, Gen Prayut was elected prime minister by parliament.

The Constitutional Court suspended his prime ministerial role in August last year pending its ruling on questions about his eight-year term prime ministerial tenure. The court later confirmed the legality of his prime ministerial post in September last year.

Gen Prayut hoped to remain as prime minister after the May 14 general election by being a prime ministerial candidate of the United Thai Nation (UTN) Party. However, the party secured 36 out of 500 House seats, ranking fifth in the polls.

He announced to quit politics in July. Last week he outlined the contributions of his administration.

Property tycoon Srettha Thavisin of the Pheu Thai Party succeeds him as the 30th prime minister, after the election-winning Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat failed to secure enough votes from the appointed Senate to become premier.

Wants issue raised at first cabinet meeting

The Move Forward Party (MFP) called on Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to keep his promise to discuss the issue of holding a referendum on a charter rewrite at his first cabinet meeting.

The call came after the House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected the party’s bid to move up a motion on rewriting the entire constitution. The motion was the 33rd item on the House’s agenda.

MFP list-MP Parit Wacharasindhu said the party accepted the House’s decision and urged Mr Srettha of the Pheu Thai Party to prioritise the proposed referendum in the new government’s first cabinet meeting, which could be as soon as Tuesday.

Mr Parit said the referendum must clearly ask whether the charter should be completely rewritten and if the body writing it should be directly elected.

Last November, the House endorsed an opposition-backed motion with 323 MPs voting in support of a charter rewrite referendum, but it was later shot down by the Senate.

The motion called on the government to hold a referendum to ask the public if a new constitution should be drawn up by a charter-drafting assembly of elected representatives to replace the current charter.

The MFP submitted a similar motion when the House re-convened and it was placed 33rd on the list.

In asking the House to move the motion up, Mr Parit said the matter would not affect the deliberation of other issues because MPs would only be asked to confirm what several parties had already supported.

Attakorn Sirilatthayakorn, a Palang Pracharath Party MP for Chachoengsao, disagreed, saying other motions were equally important and many dealt with pressing problems faced by farmers.

Khrumanit Sangphum, a Pheu Thai MP for Surin, said the proposed referendum would soon be discussed by the cabinet and the House should focus on people’s needs.

The MFP’s request to move the charter reform motion up for deliberation was rejected by 262 MPs, with 143 voting in support and one abstaining.

Meanwhile, the Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw) group on Wednesday submitted a petition involving the rewriting of the 2017 constitution to the Election Commission, along with the signatures of 211,914 people supporting it. The EC said it has to verify the authenticity of those who signed the petition, not deal with the questions to be asked at a referendum.

Pheu Thai this week accepted for consideration iLaw’s petition on the referendum.

The potent tranquilliser flualprazolam is being widely used in the four southernmost provinces of Thailand, officials say, after Regional Medical Sciences Centre 12 in Songkhla found traces of it in nimetazepam pills.

It’s the first time the substance has been found in Thailand.

Dr Supakit Sirilak, director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences, said on Wednesday that Regional Medical Sciences Centre 12 had been assigned to analyse nimetazepam pills, or Erimin 5, listed as a Category 2 psychotropic substance.

The officials found flualprazolam in the nimetazepam pills. Flualprazolam is a tranquiliser in the benzodiazepine class that eases anxiety and is used to treat panic disorders and insomnia.

In 2013, reports showed that nimetazepam, nitrazepam, phenazepam, diazepam, clozapine and etizolam had been found in Erimin 5mg pills. In 2021, flualprazolam was first found in Malaysia and Singapore.

Nimetazepam 5mg, sold under the name Erimin 5, is banned in Thailand. However, reports said the drug has been widely used in the four southernmost provinces, especially in Narathiwat. The other three border provinces are Pattani, Yala and Songkhla.

Dr Supakit added that other substances may have been mixed with nimetazepam to avoid prosecution. He said flualprazolam is a synthetic benzodiazepine which has a similar chemical compound to the sedative alprazolam, a Category 2-listed psychotropic medication.

Because flualprazolam is not a prescribed medication, and the clinical research on it has yet to be revealed. Still, Dr Supakit said its chemical compound indicates that its effects will become apparent within 10-30 minutes and last 6-14 hours.

The potent tranquilliser flualprazolam is being widely used in the four southernmost provinces of Thailand, officials say, after Regional Medical Sciences Centre 12 in Songkhla found traces of it in nimetazepam pills.

It’s the first time the substance has been found in Thailand.

Dr Supakit Sirilak, director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences, said on Wednesday that Regional Medical Sciences Centre 12 had been assigned to analyse nimetazepam pills, or Erimin 5, listed as a Category 2 psychotropic substance.

The officials found flualprazolam in the nimetazepam pills. Flualprazolam is a tranquiliser in the benzodiazepine class that eases anxiety and is used to treat panic disorders and insomnia.

In 2013, reports showed that nimetazepam, nitrazepam, phenazepam, diazepam, clozapine and etizolam had been found in Erimin 5mg pills. In 2021, flualprazolam was first found in Malaysia and Singapore.

Nimetazepam 5mg, sold under the name Erimin 5, is banned in Thailand. However, reports said the drug has been widely used in the four southernmost provinces, especially in Narathiwat. The other three border provinces are Pattani, Yala and Songkhla.

Dr Supakit added that other substances may have been mixed with nimetazepam to avoid prosecution. He said flualprazolam is a synthetic benzodiazepine which has a similar chemical compound to the sedative alprazolam, a Category 2-listed psychotropic medication.

Because flualprazolam is not a prescribed medication, and the clinical research on it has yet to be revealed. Still, Dr Supakit said its chemical compound indicates that its effects will become apparent within 10-30 minutes and last 6-14 hours.

Outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said on Wednesday he could neither confirm nor dismiss whether former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s formal application for a royal pardon has been filed.

He could only confirm the application has yet to reach him, Mr Wissanu said in his capacity as caretaker justice minister.

“The royal pardon application has not reached me yet. And I can’t say if it has been submitted because I really don’t know,” he said.

On Tuesday, Thaksin’s lawyer, Winyat Chartmontree, said documents required to support the royal pardon application were being prepared for Thaksin, who is facing eight years in prison in three cases. The cases are the Shin Corp shares case, the two- and three-digit lottery scheme case and the Exim Bank loan case.

Normally, such a royal pardon application is submitted by the inmate himself to the prison warden, who then forwards it to the Department of Corrections, Mr Wissanu said.

The department is then responsible for considering forwarding the application to the justice minister, who would ask the prime minister to submit the application for royal approval, he said.

Asked who is likely to get Thaksin’s royal pardon application request — Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the outgoing prime minister, or Srettha Thavisin, the newly elected prime minister — Mr Wissanu said if the application reaches him now, it will be forwarded to Gen Prayut, the caretaker prime minister.

However, he said, as soon as the new cabinet takes office, the royal pardon application will be forwarded to Mr Srettha.

In another development, political activist Srisuwan Janya petitioned the Ombudsman to probe state officials allegedly giving Thaksin preferential treatment.

“Since Thaksin returned on Aug 22 to Thailand from years of self-imposed exile abroad, he has been offered special treatment as if he were an important person while in reality, he is a fugitive,” said Mr Srisuwan.

He has asked the Office of the Ombudsman to probe all state officials involved in allegedly providing privileges to Thaksin, including officials at the Royal Thai Police, Department of Corrections and Police General Hospital. “From the moment he arrived at Don Mueang airport up until now, Thaksin is being treated as if he were a god,” said Mr Srisuwan.

Watanyoo Thipayamonta, deputy secretary-general of the office, said the petition will be examined to ensure fairness to all sides.

Two mysterious objects washed ashore in Phuket and Phangnga on Wednesday, drawing wide attention from locals and tourists and sparking speculation as to their origins.

Jadet Wicharasorb, mayor of tambon Karon in Phuket, said he was alerted to an unidentified object on Karon beach by a lifeguard on patrol.

The object, apparently made from fibreglass, weighed at least 100 kilogrammes with cables attached to it and contained what looked like a serial number. It was also covered with small seashells.

“It had cables and some foreign language written on it. It could be a part of an ocean marker. It will be removed from the beach and kept for further inspection,” Mr Jadet said.

A lifeguard said he thought he had found part of an aircraft at first.

Others speculated it could be space junk, such as debris from a rocket related to India’s recent moon mission.

In Phangnga, another object resembling part of an airplane or spacecraft was found on Wednesday by locals on Bang Niang beach in Koh Khor Khao in Takua Pa district.

The mysterious unidentified object was found on Karon beach in Phuket. (Photo: Achadthaya Chuenniran)

The new Omicron sub-variant HK.3 has been detected in Thailand for the first time, according to the Department of Medical Sciences (DMS).

Two members of the same family were confirmed to have contacted the new Covid-19 strain, the DMS said but added it could not confirm whether its speed of transmission and severity will be worse than its predecessors.

Department chief, Dr Supakit Sirilak, said the new variant had infected a 65-year-old man and an 11-year-old girl from the same family in Bangkok. They developed mild symptoms and have already recovered, he said.

However, he said it is too early to say if the newly confirmed sub-variant from the Omicron strain will be worse than other sub-variants.

His comments were seen as an attempt to play down fears stemming from a report saying the strain’s transmission capacity was 66% faster than current ones and that it might achieve 96% transmission capacity compared with the XBB.1.16 variant found in Thailand.

“There might be some discrepancy in terms of calculation caused by such a limited amount of data. We have found only two confirmed cases. It is too soon to reach such a conclusion. We should wait and see for a couple of weeks for a clearer situation,” he said.

Dr Supakit said the department was monitoring Covid-19 sub-variants in the country under a process of whole genome sequencing. This identified sub-variants based on the virus’s spike protein mutating in different locations.

Omicron’s XBB.1.16 makes up 39.66% of Covid infections in Thailand, followed by XBB.2.3 with 16.39% and XBB.1.9.1 with 14.66%.

He said it is possible that EG.5 will become the dominant variant due to its transmission capacity. However, there was no sign of it being more severe.