Victims of huge fireworks explosion sue for B300m

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PUBLISHED : 21 Nov 2023 at 12:54

Victims of huge fireworks explosion sue for B300m
An aerial view of the scene of the fireworks explosion in Sungai Kolok district of Narathiwat on July 29. (Photo: Border Patrol Police Unit 4414)

NARATHIWAT: A total of 682 people have sued two fireworks traders and a construction contractor for damages of 300 million baht over the huge and fatal warehouse explosion in Sungai Kolok district in July.

Sixty-eight lawyers filed the civil lawsuit on behalf of the 682 plaintiffs at the Narathiwat Provincial Court on Tuesday.

It arises from the explosion at a warehouse in tambon Muno used to store fireworks on July 29 this year in which 11 people were killed, 389 injured and 649 houses and three schools damaged.

The warehouse owners, Sompong Nakul, 42, and his wife Piyanuch Puengwirawat, 42, were present at the court, along with Pathomporn Phromsakul, a construction contractor who built the shelves in the warehouse.

The respondents were kept in a separate room to prevent any confrontation with those plaintiffs who accompanied their lawyers.

The couple and the construction contractor already face criminal charges that include recklessness causing death, substandard construction causing death, illegally trading and importing fireworks, and making unauthorised alterations to a building.

The couple offered assets worth one million baht as security for release on bail. The court rejected their request.

Mr Sompong’s lawyer, Lertsak Chotepanit, said the couple would do their best to pay compensation and had placed 1.1 million baht in cash with the court to help the families of the 11 people killed by the blast.

One of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, Olarn Kulwichit, said the two sides would initially discuss compensation at a meeting set for Feb 5 next year.

The explosion occurred around 3pm on July 29, reportedly during welding at the Weerawat Panit warehouse at the Muno market, a hub for cross-border trade in Sungai Kolok district, which adjoins Malaysia.

The godown was flattened and market stalls and hundreds of houses destroyed or damaged.

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Fractured opposition handing Taiwan’s election to DPP

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Taiwan’s two largest opposition parties were unable to form an alliance over the weekend due to competing interpretations of public opinion polls, casting a new cloud of uncertainty over January’s crucial presidential election. 

The opposition camp is perceived to be more friendly toward mainland China while the ruling, nationalistic Democratic Progressive Party is seen as more antagonistic toward Beijing.

With the push of former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou, Kuomintang (KMT)’s Hou Yu-ih and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP)’s Ko Wen-je agreed on November 15 to join political hands and allow opinion polls to determine who should lead their joint election campaign. 

The ticket would be either a “Ko-Hou team”, meaning Ko would lead in the campaign, or alternatively a “Hou-Ko team.”

On November 18, the Ko-Hou team beat the Hou-Ko team in five out of the six polls conducted by media firms as well as the two parties. However, Ko had previously agreed to a special arrangement that has complicated the result.

He had said he would be willing to be the vice presidential candidate, rather than president, if the Ko-Hou team could not secure a 3% premium in ratings over the Hou-Ko team, with the assumption of a “plus or minus 1.5%” statistical error in the polls. He accepted the arrangement as he wanted to contribute to the formation of an opposition alliance.

Under that special statistical arrangement, the Ko-Hou team and the Hou-Ko team could be interpreted to have won three polls each, allowing Ko not to concede defeat. 

But the KMT insisted that there is a “plus or minus 3%” statistical error in each poll and thus Ko can only claim victory in polls in which the Ko-Hou team has a 6% premium in ratings over the Hou-Ko team. This rule means the Hou-Ko team won five out of the six polls.

Ko said on November 18 that there is still enough time to do one more round of polls before the end of the nomination period, which will end at 5 pm on November 24. On November 19, he said he would continue his original plan to represent the TPP to run in the presidential election. 

KMT chairman Eric Chu said his party remains open to the idea of establishing an alliance with the TPP but Ko must make a decision by November 22. 

3% statistical error

Former KMT lawmaker Tsai Yuen-cheng said it’s embarrassing that his party had tried to distort the definition of “3% premium” when most people, including KMT legislator Fai Hung-tai, who reportedly has a PhD in statistics, knew that a 3% statistical error could only mean “plus or minus 1.5%.”

He said now a Hou-Ko team is ruined while the KMT can by now only choose to form a Ko-Hou team. He noted some polls showed that DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te, Ko and Hou are on course to win 6 million, 4.5 million and 3.5 million votes respectively, handing the election to the DPP, if the opposition camp cannot agree to form an alliance. 

He suggested if Hou does not accept the junior position on a united opposition ticket, the KMT may not survive over the next four years. 

Some Taiwanese commentators said the KMT-TPP’s fundamental conflict is rooted in past Legislative Yuan elections.

They said some of Ko’s supporters feel it is unfair that he serve as Hou’s deputy as he is slightly more popular in polls. They said the KMT and TPP also have conflicts over the negotiation of legislative seats. 

Adding to the intrigue, Ko held a one-hour meeting with Foxconn founder Terry Gou, who has gathered more than 900,000 signatures from public nominees to run in the election, at the latter’s home on Sunday evening. Gou must receive at least 300,000 signatures from voters to be nominated as he lacks any political party’s support.

Huang Shih-hsiu, a spokesperson of Gou’s campaign office, said Monday that the Taiwanese tech entrepreneur is open to discussions about forming a Gou-Ko team or a Ko-Gou team. Huang said a team could be formed “whenever Ko nods his head.” 

Public polls showed that a Ko-Gou team would not likely beat the DPP’s Lai-led ticket. But a KMT-TPP alliance could win about 44-45% of the vote to beat the DPP, which is currently running at around 36-38%. 

Beijing is now closely monitoring whether the so-called blue and white camps, which represent the KMT and the TPP, respectively, can form an alliance. 

Independence ticket

Lai said Monday that Hsiao Bi-khim, who had just resigned from her position as Taiwanese Representative to the United States on the same day, would be his vice president candidate. 

Hsiao was born in Japan in 1971. Her late father was a Taiwanese pastor and her mother is an American. In 2002, Hsiao served as a member of the Legislative Yuan from 2002 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2020. She then became the Taiwanese representative to the US from 2020 to 2023.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on Monday praised Hsiao as an excellent diplomat while her contributions to the self-governing island were well-recognized by the public.

Mao Ning, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, declined to comment on Lai’s pick of Hsiao as vice president because it is not a foreign affairs-related issue. 

Chu Fenglian, a spokesperson of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), said last week that both Hsiao and Lai are promoters of “Taiwan independence” and that they won’t help to improve cross-strait relations. 

In the past, Lai and Hsiao said they wanted to maintain the “status quo” in the Taiwan Straits, meaning Taiwan would continue to self-govern.

They asserted Taiwan should be allowed to join international organizations such as the World Health Organization, strengthen its defenses and sign trade deals with other nations. 

Read: Beijing ploy helps instead of hurting Gou campaign

 Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at @jeffpao3

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Myanmar hands over to China thousands of telecom fraud suspects

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BEIJING: Myanmar authorities have handed over 31,000 telecom fraud suspects to China since law enforcement officers from both countries launched a crackdown on online scams in September, Chinese authorities said on Tuesday (Nov 21). The suspects included 63 “financiers” and ring-leaders of crime syndicates that have cheated Chinese citizens ofContinue Reading

Wolbachia mosquitoes to be released at five more sites in Singapore to combat dengue

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SINGAPORE: Male Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes will be released in five new sites in the south of Singapore in an effort to combat dengue, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment Baey Yam Keng said on Tuesday (Nov 21).

The five locations are Bukit Merah – Telok Blangah, Clementi – West Coast, Commonwealth, Holland, and Marine Parade – Mountbatten, and will comprise both Housing Board (HDB) and landed estates.

The new sites will increase Wolbachia coverage from 350,000 to 480,000 households, representing an increase from 26 per cent to 35 per cent of all households in Singapore.

Releases in these new sites will start in the first quarter of 2024.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said that the five sites were selected based on various considerations, including historical dengue risk, Aedes mosquito population, and NEA’s capacity for producing and releasing male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes.

Mr Baey announced the new sites at the International Vector-Borne Diseases Conference at Shaw Foundation Alumni House at the National University of Singapore.

He noted that Singapore has experienced dengue outbreaks in three of the past five years – nearly 16,000 cases were reported in 2019, and more than 30,000 cases each year were recorded in 2020 and 2022.

Under Project Wolbachia, male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry the Wolbachia bacteria are released to mate with the female Aedes aegypti in an urban environment. The resulting eggs do not hatch.

Male mosquitoes do not bite and cannot transmit disease as they feed only on plant juices such as nectar.

According to data from the NEA’s website, more than 8,700 dengue cases have been recorded this year. A total of 143 dengue cases were reported in the week ending Nov 18.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 34 dengue clusters.

NEA said on its website that while the weekly number of reported dengue cases has decreased in the past month, case numbers remain high. It added that Singapore is expecting warmer than usual year-end weather due to the current El Nino phenomenon.

Wetter conditions in the coming weeks may also create more favourable conditions for mosquito breeding and dengue transmission, said the agency.

In September, the NEA warned that Singapore was at risk of a surge in dengue cases, with dengue virus serotype 1 (DENV-1) cases on the rise, replacing the previously dominant dengue virus serotype 3 (DENV-3).

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Maid jailed for stealing S,000 worth of gold, diamond jewellery and a Rolex watch from employer

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SINGAPORE: A domestic helper who had access to her employer’s drawer of valuables for cleaning purposes stole more than S$57,000 (US$42,700) worth of gold and diamond jewellery, including a Rolex watch.

She pawned away the items and transferred money to her family in Indonesia.

Sri Hastuti, a 39-year-old Indonesian, was sentenced to 15 months’ jail on Tuesday (Nov 21) after pleading guilty to one count of theft as a servant.

The court heard that Sri Hastuti worked as a domestic helper for a 43-year-old German man, who lived in a condominium in Marine Parade.

Between September 2022 and September 2023, Sri Hastuti stole 66 items from a drawer in her employer’s master bedroom.

These include gold bars, gold necklaces and cuff links, gold rings, 4 carat white diamond ear studs and a Rolex watch worth S$20,000.

On over 30 occasions, she pawned the items at shops in Singapore for cash. 

The victim lodged a police report on Oct 1, saying that multiple items had gone missing from his drawer where all the valuables were kept. 

He said there was a key to the drawer, but it was usually left unlocked for the maid to clean.

During police investigations, a total of 31 pawn shop tickets were recovered from Sri Hastuti.

The police managed to recover some of the items from the pawn shops – worth about S$41,000. The remainder was not recovered, and no restitution was made.

Sri Hastuti admitted transferring money to her family in Indonesia with what she received from pawning off the valuables.

The prosecution asked for 15 to 20 months’ jail, highlighting the substantial value of the stolen items and the offending period of about a year.

In mitigation, Sri Hastuti asked for a lighter sentence. She said through an interpreter that she knew what she did was wrong.

“Your honour, I am the sole breadwinner of my family,” she said. “My child married at young age, and not working, and my parent has been in and out of hospital. My siblings are also not working. In my family, I am the only person who work and support them financially. I don’t know what happen to them if I am away too long.”

In sentencing, the judge told her that she had abused her employer’s trust, but noted that she had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and that this was her first offence.

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N Korea tells Japan it will launch spy satellite in days

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Television still of North Korea's second attempt to put a spy satellite into spaceEPA
By Kelly Ng
BBC News, Singapore

North Korea may attempt a third spy satellite launch as early as midnight on Wednesday, Japanese media reported.

Tokyo said Pyongyang has notified them of a nine-day window for the launch, which closes at 23:59 local time (14:59 GMT) on 30 November.

Japan will work with South Korea to “strongly urge” the North not to proceed with the launch, which they said would violate UN resolutions.

Pyongyang has twice failed this year to get a spy satellite into space.

The Japan Coast Guard said Pyongyang’s notification designated three maritime zones believed to be the areas where debris from the rocket carrying the satellite will fall.

Two are to the west of the Korean Peninsula and the other is to the east of the Philippines’ island of Luzon.

Kang Ho-pil, chief director of operations at the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned that Seoul will take “necessary measures” should the launch proceed.

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A spy satellite is a coveted prize for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as it will allow him to monitor incoming attacks and plot his own more accurately.

However the United Nations Security Council has banned Pyongyang from launching satellites because it sees them as a pretext to test the North’s missile technology.

South Korea retrieved debris from the North’s first launch in May and said the satellite had “no military utility”. After a second attempt in August failed, Pyongyang’s space agency said it would try again in October but did not do so.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested in September after a meeting with Mr Kim that Moscow could help Pyongyang build satellites, but the details of what was actually promised are unclear.

Earlier this month, South Korea announced plans to launch its own spy satellite by the end of November. The satellite is to be carried by a rocket from US company SpaceX.

This is reportedly the first of five spy satellites Seoul plans to launch into space by 2025.

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Manufacturing worker died after his head was crushed by machine, safety feature was bypassed: Coroner

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SINGAPORE: The death of a worker at a manufacturing company, after his head was crushed by a machine, could have been avoided if safety measures had been complied with, a coroner’s court has found.

In findings made available this week, State Coroner Adam Nakhoda ruled the death of 34-year-old Chinese national Sun Zaitao a work-related misadventure.

Mr Sun had died of extensive crush injuries to his head on Feb 11 last year, after leaning into a window of a cardboard processing machine to clear waste.

His head was caught by parts of the machine and his body was pulled in or fell into the machine. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Sun worked as a production fitter for AMB Packaging, a paper and cardboard container and box manufacturer with its premises at 17 Senoko Loop.

He was trained to operate the machine that killed him – called the Tai Yi TGF High Speed Flexo Printer Slotter Rotary Die-Cutter Inline with Folder Gluer machine.

The machine would process corrugated cardboard into cartons bearing a customer’s designs by cutting, glueing, folding and stacking the cardboard.

Mr Sun was specifically tasked to operate the machine from November 2021.

The machine, purchased in May 2019, was several meters long and consisted of six machinery components.

There was a viewing window at the bundle stacker portion of the machine, where the machine stacked items. 

The window was 0.9m in height and 0.8m in width and came equipped with an interlocking guard.

If the window was opened when the machine was being operated, the guard would work by cutting the electrical supply to the machine.

At about 4.20pm on Feb 11 last year, Mr Sun was seen on closed-circuit television footage extending his upper body through the window of the machine while it was operating.

The coroner said it was likely that he was attempting to clear cardboard waste that had built up when he leaned further into the machine to remove a sub-standard carton.

“It was likely that Mr Sun’s head was then caught by the upward moving collection mechanism and was then trapped between the collection mechanism and the stationary pair of metal pieces,” said the coroner. 

His body then either fell or was pulled by the machine’s moving parts into the bundle stacker area, where he was found dead. 

MOM INVESTIGATIONS

After Mr Sun’s death, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) found that the interlocking guard had been tampered with. A key was kept inserted into a device by the window frame so that the window would remain open even when the machine was operating.

This bypass was put in place so that the machine could operate without interruption. Usually, cardboard waste would accumulate near the window, requiring the machine to be stopped so workers could remove the waste.

By bypassing the interlocking guard, a worker could remove the waste via the window without stopping the machine from operating.

MOM reviewed closed-circuit television footage and noted that Mr Sun and a printer supervisor were seen extending their upper body into the window five and 11 times respectively between January and February 2022.

The workers would perform this dangerous act to remove sub-standard cartons and clear cardboard waste by brushing them to the floor. A printer operator had observed these acts, MOM’s investigations revealed.

After Mr Sun’s death, a stop work order was issued and the company reinstalled the interlocking guard, ensuring it was functional.

The Workplace Health and Safety Council (WSH Council) issued an alert on Feb 21 last year to create awareness of the risk control measures to be taken to prevent a similar occurrence.

The recommended safety measures included: The installation of machine guards to protect workers from contact with exposed moving parts, safety devices such as presence sensors to be installed at machine hazard zones and the use of audio-visual warning devices which would indicate hazardous situations.

Mr Sun’s brother said he intended to engage a lawyer in Singapore to manage Mr Sun’s death, but did not raise any issues or concerns over the fatal incident. 

The coroner said this was an accident that could have been avoided. The machine was equipped with a safety feature that would prevent workers from coming into contact with moving machinery parts.

He said it was made clear to Mr Sun and other workers that the window had to be kept closed when the machine was operating – a fact emphasised by a trainer from the maker of the machine.

If the interlocking guard had been working, the machine would have stopped operating when Mr Sun opened the window, allowing him to clear the waste without the hazard of being caught by moving parts.

Unfortunately, the evidence showed that the interlocking guard had been bypassed since September 2019, around the time that the machine was commissioned for use at the premises, said the coroner.

He urged stakeholders who operate similar machinery to implement the recommendations by the WSH Council to prevent similar accidents from occurring in the future.

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Robbie Williams fan dies after fall at Sydney concert

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Robbie Williams performing at an earlier show in Madrid, Spain in July 2023Getty Images
By Frances Mao
BBC News

A woman in her 70s has died in hospital after a fall at a Robbie Williams concert in Sydney last Thursday.

She fell down six rows of seats during the show at Allianz Stadium and suffered serious head injuries.

The woman was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was placed in an induced coma. Medical authorities confirmed on Tuesday she had died.

The British singer has not commented on the incident, which happened on the first night of his Australian XXV tour.

The accident took place after the show had ended, as thousands of show-goers were filing out, said a stadium spokesman.

“Rather than use stairs, the woman attempted to step over seating rows. She lost her footing and fell,” said the spokesman according to the Sydney Morning Herald’s report.

“This is a terribly sad incident and our thoughts and wishes are with the patron and their family during this time.”

About 40,000 fans attended the show on 16 November. The British pop star – who is the subject of a newly released four-part Netflix documentary – is next due to play in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Last Friday, a 23-year-old fan died at a Taylor Swift concert in Rio de Janeiro after collapsing in the heat. Ana Clara Benevides Machado was rushed to hospital where she died of a cardiac arrest.

Her family has said they are seeking answers after reports that concert organisers banned patrons from bringing in water to the show despite the heatwave conditions.

Swift paid tribute to the fan, saying she was “devastated” and “shattered” by the death. She wrote on Instagram: “She was so incredibly beautiful and far too young”.

Videos on social media also showed Swift handing out bottles of water to her fans during the show and directing security to give water to fans.

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Commentary: Fast tracking Singapore’s new Prime Minister – it’s not business as usual

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What he must aim to do is to make sure that in the GE after the coming one – when he would have five more years to establish his position – he delivers for the party.

Indeed, this was what both Mr Goh and Mr Lee did, with better-than-expected results in their subsequent GEs.

Now that the handover timetable has been more or less fixed, Mr Wong has to go full throttle at strengthening his emotional bond with the people.

This is the job of the leader, and it is especially pressing for him because of the short runway he has had and the looming GE.

The challenge for him is not just about addressing issues that Singaporeans are vexed about such as the cost of living.

As the new PM heading the fourth generation (4G) team, he will be scrutinised and judged on how he comes across as the man who will lead Singapore amid all the challenges of the world, what sort of leader he is and whether he has what it takes to instil confidence among Singaporeans.

Because he will have such a short time before the GE to do this, he has to make an impact quickly, certainly within the 12 months.

The message must be: It is not business as usual.

He must exercise strong and firm leadership, which is what Singaporeans expect of their leaders.

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