What started as a routine late-night run through Pattaya turned into a dramatic roadside spectacle on the evening of January 11, when a bronze Toyota pickup truck collided with and toppled three high-voltage power poles along Soi Paniad Chang. The crash — which occurred at precisely 10:36 p.m. in Bang Lamung district, Chon Buri — left live wires swinging across the road, forced an immediate police shutdown, and sent rescue teams scrambling to make the scene safe. Chaos on Soi Paniad Chang Onlookers described a scene that felt equal parts dangerous and surreal. The collapse of three electricity poles didn’t just block the street; it left a tangle of live power lines and communication cables dangling dangerously low, and even knocked over a directional sign. Emergency responders from the Sawang Boriboon Rescue Foundation and the Pattaya Electricity Authority moved fast, cordoning off the area to protect residents and motorists from…
Posts published in “Thailand”
If you’ve ever dreamed of a scenic, traffic-free promenade connecting two of Bangkok’s most beloved green lungs, your wish is starting to come true. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has thrown open parts of the newly renovated “Green Bridge” for public trial — a 1.6-kilometre elevated skywalk that now links Lumpini Park and Benjakitti Park with a fresh splash of accessibility, safety, and colour. A bridge that welcomes everyone This isn’t just a facelift. The Green Bridge has been reimagined with Universal Design at its core: the once steep staircases have been replaced by gentle, elevated ramps so wheelchair users, parents pushing prams, and cyclists can glide between parks without battling steps. It’s a simple idea, brilliantly executed — an inclusive artery through the city where everyone can move at their own pace. Underfoot: surfaces built for safety and comfort City officials made safety and comfort top priorities. The walking…
On the night of January 8, a routine border patrol in Sa Kaeo province turned into something out of a thriller: a six-wheel lorry, a stack of foam panels, and 37 people hidden between sheets of foam hoping for a new start in Thailand. The interception in Aranyaprathet district—around 11:30 p.m. on the Ban Dong Ngu–Ban Pa Rai road—exposed a brazen smuggling tactic and a human story of desperation. The night the foam gave up its secret Patrol officers from a joint task force—featuring the Burapha Task Force, the 12th Ranger Regiment, Klong Luek Police Station and Sa Kaeo Immigration—flagged a suspicious white truck for inspection. Rather than complying, the driver did the classic vanish-into-the-crops routine: he sped off and abandoned the vehicle, disappearing into nearby sugarcane fields. It’s a familiar scene in border regions, but what authorities found in the truck was far from ordinary. At first glance the…
When tropical island life met international intrigue, Koh Samui wasn’t ready. On January 8, 2026, Thai immigration officers quietly interrupted a poolside vacation when they arrested Sibgatullin Airat, a Russian national accused of orchestrating a high-stakes extortion plot that stretched all the way back to Russia. According to Russian authorities, Airat — together with three alleged accomplices — pressured the CEO of a major car dealership into handing over 1 million rubles (roughly 400,000 baht) between November 2024 and November 2025. The group reportedly threatened to leak confidential material that could have seriously damaged the company’s reputation and business operations. Fearing the fallout, the CEO made the payment and later filed a complaint with Russian law enforcement, which launched an investigation and sought international assistance. That appeal for help landed at the Russian Embassy in Thailand, which asked Thai authorities to locate and detain the suspect. Investigators say Airat fled…
It’s the end of an era for one of Thailand’s homegrown e-commerce players. On 9 January 2026, NocNoc — the popular Thai home services and goods marketplace — announced on its official Facebook page that it will permanently shut down operations, citing a bruising economic climate and fierce competition in the e-commerce arena. The platform will stop accepting orders at 00:00 on 9 February 2026, with the last moment to place new orders set for 23:59 on 8 February 2026. The message from NocNoc struck a familiar chord: after years of building a trusted local platform, difficult market conditions and relentless rivalry from deep-pocketed players made continued operation untenable. The company also confirmed that while new promotions concluded on the day of the announcement — 9 January — after-sales support and warranty services won’t vanish overnight. Instead, NocNoc mapped out a staged wind-down designed to honour commitments and give sellers…
In the small hours of January 8, a quiet neighbourhood in Chiang Mai’s Pa Dad sub-district was rocked by a tragedy that has left the community searching for answers. A two-storey house went up in flames, and by the time rescuers forced their way inside, five members of the same family had died—none from burns, but from heavy smoke inhalation despite desperate attempts at resuscitation. The victims have been named as 38-year-old businessman Kawin, his 38-year-old wife Warissara, their five-year-old twin daughters Lalisa and Lalinda, and Kawin’s 70-year-old mother, Sunee. Rescue teams performed CPR at the scene before rushing the family to hospital, but all were later pronounced dead. The house itself belongs to Kawin’s father, former education official Somsak Taichai, who reportedly does not live on the property and visits only occasionally. Authorities say one other family member was not present at the time of the blaze; police are…
It reads like a crime thriller, but this was real-life policing: on the morning of January 8, officers from Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), backed by the Anti Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (ACIB) and in close coordination with South Korean authorities, moved in on a hideout in Pattaya and arrested a Chinese national identified as Xian. He was wanted under an Interpol Red Notice for his alleged role in a transnational call-centre scam ring — and for the far grimmer charge of involvement in the torture and murder of a South Korean student in a neighbouring country. The alleged scam ring, investigators say, was far from the faceless online fraud many imagine. It operated like a compact, violent machine. South Korean nationals were reportedly coaxed or deceived into travelling to the scam base under promises of legitimate work. Once they arrived, their passports were allegedly confiscated, and the newcomers were…
On the afternoon of January 8, Pattaya’s usually sun-drenched skyline was briefly cloaked in thick, ominous smoke as a fast-moving grassland blaze erupted in Bang Lamung district. What began near the community office on Moo 11 in Khao Talo at about 1:30 PM quickly ballooned into a serious incident, prompting a rapid response from firefighters and leaving locals and visitors staring up at a sky full of smoke and questions. The day the wind turned against Pattaya Fire crews from Nong Prue Municipality and Pattaya City answered the call with several engines on scene. Their speedy arrival matters, but the real adversary that afternoon was the weather: strong winds fanned the flames and pushed thick smoke across neighbourhoods, creating a surreal, hazy tableau that settled over parts of the city. By the time crews had the situation under control — roughly an hour after ignition — the blaze had consumed…
When a late-night ride to nowhere becomes the center of a public drama, the sleepy streets of Nonthaburi suddenly feel like the set of a tense soap opera. Thirty-year-old Kedsara Chanthanarot vanished from her home after stepping into a pink taxi — and what began as a missing-person alert quickly turned into a raw, real-life story about alleged domestic abuse, secret marriages and the difficult choices faced by a young mother. The timeline: taxi, silence and a desperate appeal The alarm was raised after Kedsara left her Nonthaburi home late one night in a pink taxi and failed to answer calls from family. Her husband, 44-year-old Kosin Chatlertchai, went public, asking the online community for help to find his wife. Kosin told reporters they had argued before she left and that more than two weeks had passed with no contact. He even tried to trace the taxi on CCTV, but…
Bangkok’s plan to turn every collar into a tiny ID card has hit the pause button. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) announced a one-year postponement of its pet microchipping and household pet-limit rules — moving the enforcement date from January 10, 2026 to January 10, 2027. Governor Chadchart Sittipunt proposed the delay so the city can roll out the program more thoughtfully, and the Bangkok Metropolitan Council approved the change on January 7, 2026. The ordinance — officially the BMA Ordinance on the Control of Keeping or Releasing Animals — is ambitious. It sets limits on how many pets households can keep depending on property size, requires registration, and mandates microchipping: pets must be chipped within 120 days of birth or within 30 days of changing ownership. On paper, it’s a tidy plan to reduce strays and reunite lost pets with owners. In practice, the rules drew pushback from residents,…