In the quiet pre-dawn hours of December 27, a routine drive turned into a scene of devastation on the Chonburi motorway. At 3:10 a.m., near the 91-kilometre marker on the Pattaya-bound lane in Bang Phra, Si Racha district, an orange four-door Nissan pickup rammed into the rear of a stationary 18-wheeler, killing four people and leaving one critically injured. The crash has left a community reeling and prompted renewed warnings about the dangers of drowsy driving on Thailand’s busy highways. The wreckage and the rescue By the time officers from Khao Khiao Highway Police Station and crews from the Pure Yeang Tai Si Racha Foundation arrived, the pickup was little more than a mangled shell. The white Hino trailer, hauling rubberwood bound for a Rayong factory, bore the blunt force of the impact but remained upright. Rescue teams worked under floodlights, their hydraulic cutters hissing as they pried metal apart…
Posts published in “Thailand”
The 2nd Army Region released an update on December 26 detailing a tense day along the Thai–Cambodian border, with the heat of the fighting concentrated in Sisaket province. According to the army, skirmishes flared at multiple points along the frontier, but Thai forces held firm and maintained control of all strategic positions. Troops in neighboring Ubon Ratchathani were also placed along the border, particularly in the Chong Bok and Chong An Ma areas, as commanders pushed to reinforce defensive lines, hasten fortification construction, and clear Cambodian bunkers to stabilize the front. Sisaket: The epicenter of exchanges Sisaket emerged as the flashpoint of the day. The stretch running Sam Tae–Don Tual–Phu Phi–Sattasom–Phnom Prasitthiso–Chong Ta Thao saw frequent supporting fire from Cambodian positions, and Thai units answered with a mix of artillery and drone strikes. While the army reported no full-scale ground assault, it did say a convoy of five Cambodian vehicles…
On December 25, what should have been a day of holiday cheer turned tragic at Doi Jawale in Tak province. A 22-year-old tourist, later identified as Sarocha Wijitpanya from Surat Thani, fell an estimated 200 metres into a ravine at the remote mountain attraction in Tha Song Yang district. The fall proved fatal, and local rescuers faced a grueling, daylight-to-dusk recovery mission because the site sits deep in rugged terrain several hours’ walk from the nearest community. Remote terrain, long trek Word of the accident reached authorities after local porters raised the alarm. Because Doi Jawale is tucked away in a region of jagged cliffs and thick forest, ground teams could not simply drive in. Officials estimated a 6–7 hour trek on foot to reach the scene — a timeline that turned into more than seven exhausting hours as rescuers threaded their way over steep slopes and tricky footholds to…
On December 26, the Thai Pakdee Party dropped a policy bombshell that has Bangkok buzzing: a plan to cancel the 1,000 and 500 baht banknotes nationwide. The proposal, unveiled by party leader Warong Dechgitvigrom on his Facebook page, reads like a plotline from a financial thriller — high-denomination notes vanish overnight to snuff out corruption and choke underground cash flows. Bold? Certainly. Practical? That’s where the debate begins. Warong’s argument is blunt and cinematic: big bills are the oxygen corrupt networks breathe. “Cash in large denominations,” he says, “lets illicit wealth slip through the cracks — stashed in secret rooms, moved via mule accounts, paid out as bribes with no digital trace.” In his telling, digital transactions and asset-based transfers leave forensic breadcrumbs; high-value banknotes do not. Remove those notes, and you shrink the hiding places for ill-gotten gains. He invoked vivid images to make the point: politicians’ houses with…
On December 24, 2023, Hwang Hana—once a familiar name in South Korean tabloids, and the granddaughter of the founder of Namyang Dairy Products—returned to her homeland and surrendered to police, drawing a close to a dramatic chapter that had unfolded across three countries and spilled into headlines for months. The 37-year-old’s troubles began in July 2023 with a police arrest in Seoul’s Gangnam district. Authorities accused her of injecting methamphetamine into two people, and as investigators dug deeper, other alleged drug-related offences surfaced. Instead of staying put to face questioning, Hwang left South Korea in December, touching down in Thailand and, according to media reports, later travelling on to Cambodia. Her departure triggered a swift response from South Korean authorities: her passport was revoked and officials sought international help to locate her. What began as an Interpol Blue Notice to gather information and whereabouts escalated into an Interpol Red Notice…
Bangkok’s quiet residential streets turned into the latest front in Thailand’s fight to protect its underwater treasures on December 24, when environmental police arrested a 33-year-old man accused of selling protected coral and sea anemones online. The suspect, identified as Chitipat, was taken into custody after officers found more than 200 marine specimens during a court-authorized search of a house on Soi Phetkasem 77 in the capital’s Nong Khaem district. A digital trail led investigators to a physical haul The investigation began in the most 21st-century of ways: with online adverts. Officers from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division spotted posts in public social media groups offering coral for sale, which prompted surveillance and digital sleuthing. The online listings, investigators say, eventually pointed to Chitipat as the likely seller and secured a court warrant to search the property. When police executed the warrant, they reportedly discovered a collection…
In the glow of neon and the hum of late-night traffic, Bangkok authorities rolled out a coordinated operation on the evening of December 23 along one of the capital’s busiest arteries. From BTS Nana station down to the green fringe outside Benjasiri Park, teams of city officials, social welfare workers and local police canvassed pavements and public nooks where people had been sleeping, part of a wider effort to manage homelessness in the Sukhumvit commercial and tourist strip. The sweep began at around 10pm and was described by officials as more than a simple eviction: it was an assessment-driven push to connect vulnerable people with state welfare, shelters and vocational training — while also reminding everyone that public spaces must remain safe and accessible for pedestrians, shoppers and visitors. The agencies involved included the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, and district offices from Khlong…
In the sort of seaside scene that makes for awkward small talk and viral social-media fodder, a Russian couple found themselves at the center of a late-night commotion on Jomtien Beach, Pattaya. What began as a boozy reunion among friends turned into a public spectacle when, in the early hours of December 24, the pair were spotted engaging in sexual activity while seated on camping chairs — an act that drew quick attention, a police complaint and an online storm. Police at Mueang Pattaya Police Station received the first call around 2:00 a.m. from a concerned Thai witness who said the couple’s behavior was not only inappropriate but made nearby residents and tourists uncomfortable. By the time officers arrived the couple had left the immediate scene, but a clutch of eyewitnesses — and a now-viral video clipped by bystanders — left little doubt about what had taken place on the…
The quiet hum of an idling engine at a King Kaew Road petrol station in Racha Thewa turned into a scene of sorrow on December 24, when staff discovered the body of 78-year-old truck driver Pramote slumped in the cab of his ten-wheel lorry. According to police reports, the truck had arrived around 6:00 PM the previous evening and remained parked with the engine running until attendants became alarmed the next morning when the vehicle hadn’t moved and calls to the driver went unanswered. A loyal life on the road Pramote wasn’t just any driver. The man had spent more than four decades behind the wheel of the same truck, ferrying containers and hauling loads across routes that included Lat Krabang and Bang Phli. The truck’s owner—who employed Pramote for over 40 years—recalled that the driver typically made a single trip per day and was known for his work ethic.…
On December 24, what began as a flurry of sharp accusations between neighbors turned into a public back-and-forth that read like a diplomatic courtroom drama. Cambodia’s government released photos and statements alleging that Thai forces had used M-46 cluster munitions in recent clashes — weapons, Cambodian officials warned, that can scatter lethal fragments across fields, forests and villages and remain a long-term risk to civilians, especially children. The Royal Thai Army fired back the same day through spokesperson Winthai Suvaree, insisting the images and claims were misleading. Winthai said the munitions in question were dual-purpose artillery shells intended strictly for military targets. According to him, the submunitions inside the shells detonate successively on impact, rather than lying dormant like anti-personnel landmines that can later maim or kill noncombatants. Two versions of the same scene On one side, Cambodia’s Ministry of Information and Ly Thuch — vice-president of the Cambodian Mine…