News from Thailand – February 5, 2014
I'll start with an old post that I left out yesterday. A minivan was crushed on Monday afternoon by a container loaded with wooden planks landing on it and the car could not withstand that. The driver was killed.
The container had fallen off a trailer when it passed the van. That took place on the Phahon Yothin Highway opposite the famous Future Park shopping center in Rangsit. The container was loose on the trailer and was not secured. That was not possible because the car missed container bottom locks. The owner of the car faces a fine of 50.000 baht.
– Bad luck for the students of Prathom 1 in education zones 1 and 2, but a tablet PC for them is no longer an option this school year, which ends next month, and perhaps never again. The Chinese company Shenzhen Yitoa Intelligent Control Co, which should have delivered the 804.742 tablets in December, has withdrawn.
The reason given is the political instability in Thailand, disagreements over the contract, communication problems and a fine for late delivery. The company wants to avoid further losses, withdraws and apologizes for this. But it reserves the right to appeal.
The Ministry of Education is withdrawing its 120 million baht bank guarantee and will hold the company liable for any future damages. The committee, which is responsible for the tablet program, will meet on Friday to discuss the further course of events.
The ministry cannot deny that the tablet program has encountered problems since its inception, says Minister Chaturon Chaisang (Education), which seems to me to be the understatement of the year.
The students in zones 1 and 2 are not the only ones who have to go through life without a tablet, because there are also problems with the supply of tablets to Mathayom 1 students in zone 3 (central and southern Thailand) by a Thai company . That contract has been canceled due to suspicions of price inflation. There are no problems in zone 4 (North and Northeast).
The tablet program, one of those nice (but expensive) election promises of Pheu Thai in 2011, is in its second year.
– The giant panda Lin Hui (12) has had a miscarriage. After a pregnancy of 128 days, Lin Hui has lost her baby, the Chiang Mai zoo has announced. According to an employee, the animal seems oblivious to the miscarriage.
Lin Hui is one of two pandas the zoo has on loan from China. Her first offspring was born in 2009 after artificial insemination. That was Linping, who now resides in China, and was wildly popular. Linping even had its own TV channel.
Lin Hui's second pregnancy also came about artificially, because despite attempts by the zoo to get her to mate, she has no appetite.
– One of the worst crimes ever committed against children in the Deep South. That is what Narathiwat Provincial Police Commander Pattanawut Angkhanawin calls the shooting of a family in Bacho by four men on Monday. Three boys aged 3, 5 and 9 were killed and the two parents – the mother is pregnant – were injured.
The shooting took place when the family, having just returned from a visit to the mosque, was about to enter their home. The three children were hit in the chest.
According to Pattanawut, the shooting was related to a personal conflict because the father, free on bail, had shot dead an assistant village chief in 2012. The gunmen may have been assassins. But it could also be one of many shellings perpetrated by insurgents.
– After a chase by the police, a drug smuggler in Mae Tha (Lamphun) was shot dead. The man had driven through a checkpoint in his pickup truck. As the police approached, he and his buddies fled from the car and opened fire on the officers.
The message does not state how many men were involved; however, that 1,2 million methamphetamine pills with a street value of 800 million baht were seized. It would be a gang that operates from Tak province.
In an undercover operation in Muang (Lampang) a couple ran into the lamp. The police posed as buyers. When the man (35) and the woman (22) delivered the drugs in a rice field, it was all over. They desperately needed the money, because both were unemployed.
– In the Erg Rangsit shopping center (Pathum Thani), the police handcuffed three men from Malaysia. They tried to pay with fake credit cards, but the seller was aware of this and tipped off the police. The three have stated that they buy electrical appliances for sale in Malaysia on behalf of a businessman in their country. They would get a 10 percent commission if they succeeded.
– Everything about the rice misery is in the post China scraps rice deal; government further.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post
Since I worked in the port (Rotterdam) myself, my eye immediately fell on the message about the accident with the container.
This shows once again how easy people are when it comes to safety in Thailand, if a truck without twist locks came to load a container in Rotterdam, this would be refused, and the driver would be declared crazy.
And here they just do it with all its consequences, luckily the van was empty except for the driver, hopefully the fine will go to the next of kin.
Bit strange that I write the fine must go to the next of kin, I mean of course the money (50.000 baht)
Most containers are not attached and are loose on the trailer.
Even saw one last year that had tumbled from a bridge on the highway towards Bangkok-Pattaya.
As long as you're not under it yourself, I think.
Another sick message.
A mentally disturbed woman killed her two small children and
eaten.
The woman in question thought her children were pigs and has the children
therefore slaughtered and boned like pigs, after which she made soup from it
and has eaten.
The police who then arrived on the scene learned from the woman that she was not wrong
had done because it would concern pigs.
I don't know what happened to the woman after that, but there will be
they probably also make soup out of it.
How sick do you have to be for this.
Regards,
Erwin
PS
The source is Thai television, from my wife on her smartphone.
Shared on facebook channel 3.
Have often heard that a human life is worth nothing in Thailand, but now I wonder; Is that 50.000 bht the only and maximum that the driver can get or is this only due to the fact that the container was not secured and will there be any kind of (legal) procedure regarding the accident with wrongful death, which in my opinion you in this case can easily aggravate with (attempted) manslaughter, since the driver knew very well what risks he was taking.
@Johan,
I don't know if it works the same in Thailand as it does with us in Holland, here in Holland the driver is always liable for his freight and loading his car, but as you know Thailand is not Holland here everything is often like that different from us.
It could just be that in Thailand the employer will be held liable, there is also talk of the owner of the car being fined, which could also be the driver.
I read in JM's response that it happens more often that the containers are loose on the trailer, maybe it's normal in Thailand I wouldn't know, but they are definitely doing it wrong.