British man killed by ‘faulty’ firework in Pattaya

[Don Mega]

40 minutes ago, Mango Bob said:

So it is illegal to buy fireworks in Thailand.  So those these shops all export them which would not be illegal?

How many shops export them ?

[Chazar]

There  was  me thinking it  was  only  kids that  had to have this  sort  of things explained to them

[Momofarang]

I have just looked at the Pacific Cross health insurance application form, and there is nothing regarding the use of Fireworks.

[Don Mega]

4 minutes ago, Momofarang said:

I have just looked at the Pacific Cross health insurance application form, and there is nothing regarding the use of Fireworks.

What does it say about doing dumb things whilst drunk ?

Edited January 1, 2020 by Don Mega

[RJRS1301]

59 minutes ago, POMRAKSIAM said:

Call it was it is: alcohol intoxication related accident

Call it stupidity in the extreme

[harriott456]

1 hour ago, ebean001 said:

why do so many think this problem is only a Thailand problem Here is a USA number you can chew on...In 2017 there were 12,900 people ended up in hospital emergency rooms with injuries from fireworks. repeat...12,900. Many also died. I am sure the rest of the world had similar numbers. I am also sure they did not try to find the sellers.

people can't bash Thais or Thailand though as its u.s.a

 

[ChrisY1]

1 hour ago, unamazedloso said:

fireworks are illegal? Whod have known! Local shops where i am were selling all night. 

I used leftover 2yr old fireworks last night and was a little hesitant but thankfully i didnt blow myself apart.

Lucky this time....maybe not the next time tho'

[RJRS1301]

41 minutes ago, cardinalblue said:

Some people never grow up - at least he went out with a bang...

I am glad it was you who posted what I am sure many thought, despite the tragedy.

Wonder how they came to the conclusion it was "faulty".

[mike787]

...and that is why I watch the experts do it and far away.  Compacted pressurized and sealed gun powder....not a good outcome.

[atyclb]

likely traumatic brain injury

[Don Mega]

1 minute ago, atyclb said:

likely traumatic brain injury

The intoxication likely softened the blow !!

[NanLaew]

Before too many smart mouths with the inevitable glib or sanctimonious comments or plain vulgar and disrespectful utterances get clipped by a Mod, the guy that died was a personal friend of mine and many others. A frequent visitor to Pattaya, he was well-traveled as a well respected and long-time member of the Moto GP entourage that tours the world. Smart and articulate, even when inebriated, he was truly the life and soul of many gatherings with friends who either hooked up with him when he was in Thailand or when we were following the racing season somewhere else in the world. A generous host and a just a great human being. The truly saddening thing is he was due to get married to his long-time girlfriend in 17 days time. At 51, he was already slowing down and growing up so there's no need for any more pointless, personal admonishments or insults.

 

For me, to get the message of his violent death early this morning has somewhat dimmed the first sunrise of 2020.

 

RIP Gary.

Edited January 1, 2020 by NanLaew

[cmrichsw]

Some of us are lucky to live and learn some do not

Edited January 1, 2020 by cmrichsw

[tomacht8]

Sad
RIP
Many fireworks come from dubious sources without safety standards. Unfortunately, Thailand does not have any mandatory test standards for manufacturers, such as those that have existed in the EU since 2006
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_06_1892
 

[saminoz]

3 hours ago, smedly said:

faulty firework ?

 

drunk - tried to light it, thought it failed to go off - went to look

 

RIP

 

These big fireworks are dangerous and should not be available to buy on the street, years ago saw a drunk Thai woman light one of these outside a bar I was in then knocked it over, it went off straight into the bar, one young Thai girl was hit in the neck and nearly died, another faulty firework

 

3 hours ago, smedly said:

faulty firework ?

 

drunk - tried to light it, thought it failed to go off - went to look

 

RIP

 

These big fireworks are dangerous and should not be available to buy on the street, years ago saw a drunk Thai woman light one of these outside a bar I was in then knocked it over, it went off straight into the bar, one young Thai girl was hit in the neck and nearly died, another faulty firework

With all due respect, at 51, he should, and probably did, know better.

 

Could have killed many. many more.  Stupid.

RIP

[Just Weird]

2 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

So, where did all the hundreds of fireworks that I saw and heard around our house last night come from, the tooth fairy maybe.

They came from illegal sellers.   Officially organized displays are not illegal.

[atyclb]

20 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Before too many smart mouths with the inevitable glib or sanctimonious comments or plain vulgar and disrespectful utterances get clipped by a Mod, the guy that died was a personal friend of mine and many others. A frequent visitor to Pattaya, he was well-traveled as a well respected and long-time member of the Moto GP entourage that tours the world. Smart and articulate, even when inebriated, he was truly the life and soul of many gatherings with friends who either hooked up with him when he was in Thailand or when we were following the racing season somewhere else in the world. A generous host and a just a great human being. The truly saddening thing is he was due to get married to his long-time girlfriend in 17 days time. At 51, he was already slowing down and growing up so there's no need for any more pointless, personal admonishments or insults.

 

For me, to get the message of his violent death early this morning has somewhat dimmed the first sunrise of 2020.

 

RIP Gary.

 

a needlessly tragic death. quite a big risk trying to light an explosive device that size and at that renge

 

not too long ago a lost a brilliant young attorney friend to a motorcycle accident. he too remained smart and articulate when inebriated though thought he was invincible.

Edited January 1, 2020 by atyclb

[Don Mega]

25 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Before too many smart mouths with the inevitable glib or sanctimonious comments or plain vulgar and disrespectful utterances get clipped by a Mod, the guy that died was a personal friend of mine and many others. A frequent visitor to Pattaya, he was well-traveled as a well respected and long-time member of the Moto GP entourage that tours the world. Smart and articulate, even when inebriated, he was truly the life and soul of many gatherings with friends who either hooked up with him when he was in Thailand or when we were following the racing season somewhere else in the world. A generous host and a just a great human being. The truly saddening thing is he was due to get married to his long-time girlfriend in 17 days time. At 51, he was already slowing down and growing up so there's no need for any more pointless, personal admonishments or insults.

 

For me, to get the message of his violent death early this morning has somewhat dimmed the first sunrise of 2020.

 

RIP Gary.

Sorry to hear of your friends passing, just how smart was he to stick his head over a big firework and light the fuse ?

[SupermarineS6B]

Not a lot of sympathy with that one....... Trying to set off a bomb in a street ?    SOL........ Sh*t outta luck.....

[krobert6]

No astronomical hospital bills to pay here. RIP

[AhFarangJa]

21 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

They came from illegal sellers.   Officially organized displays are not illegal.

Agreed, I was just being facetious.......

[sawadeeken]

Years ago in Pattaya a group of friends and myself were at a bar on Soi 8..... Opposite the Soi in another Bar was another 'Farang' who was 'stumbling drunk' and he was lighting  '50-packs' of small firecrackers then throwing them out into the Soi as groups walked by...  Watching him for a while (OUR GROUP) and 'not liking' his actions..... OUR WHOLE GROUP as well as many others were treated to a 'HAPPY ENDING" when that drunk guy didn't throw his pack soon enough and and they (all 50) went off in his hand.... It was a laff for us all and many 'clapped and cheered'....

It IS a 'Fond Memory' for ME... And one of the few times that I have witnessed................. 'WHAT GOES AROUND -- COMES AROUND'.....    cheers ........

[Jaxxper]

When I was a kid in the UK the golden rule was NEVER return to a firework that you tried to light and it didn’t go off. Whatever the real cause so sad. RIP.

[samsensam]

 

very sad.

 

possibly excessive alcohol at work.

 

he is of the generation to know the 'firework code' and have seen the publicity about firework safety which was common in the uk when this age group were children. i've never forgotten it.

[transam]

54 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Before too many smart mouths with the inevitable glib or sanctimonious comments or plain vulgar and disrespectful utterances get clipped by a Mod, the guy that died was a personal friend of mine and many others. A frequent visitor to Pattaya, he was well-traveled as a well respected and long-time member of the Moto GP entourage that tours the world. Smart and articulate, even when inebriated, he was truly the life and soul of many gatherings with friends who either hooked up with him when he was in Thailand or when we were following the racing season somewhere else in the world. A generous host and a just a great human being. The truly saddening thing is he was due to get married to his long-time girlfriend in 17 days time. At 51, he was already slowing down and growing up so there's no need for any more pointless, personal admonishments or insults.

 

For me, to get the message of his violent death early this morning has somewhat dimmed the first sunrise of 2020.

 

RIP Gary.

I am sure we are all sorry for your loss but his really daft actions in a very small area could have taken out a passer bye instead of him..

[Rimmer]

More troll posts  removed

[Pattaya46]

2 hours ago, Mango Bob said:

So it is illegal to buy fireworks in Thailand. So those these shops all export them which would not be illegal?

Not all fireworks are illegal! Neither all shops selling them!

Shops must have a license issued by the local District Office to sell fireworks,

and they are restricted in what types of fireworks they may sell.

 

Selling large fireworks direct to tourists or public is completely illegal,

but if you are caught you, not the vendor, will suffer the legal consequences.

(but I don't know where "large" starts...?)

[Aussiepeter]

You have my sympathy for your loss NanLaew and I sympathise too with Cornish Carlos, as my Thai missus is totally deaf in one ear and has 30% loss in the other after some dumb 'Somchai' let off a cherry-bomb next to her in CM when she was 17. Burst both her eardrums. I was an explosives safety officer and UXO technician in the army for nearly 30 years. There are many safety rules with gunpowder-based explosives, including light it at arms length, but the main one that another poster hit on is simple - if you have lit or tried to lite it once, there is a 2 hour wait (in the bunker) before one silly sod (the safety Officer, i.e. me) goes down to take a closer look. I would then destroy it - not try to relight it.

I enjoyed playing with fireworks in C Mai for many years, but always in a vacant cleared paddock, with both adults and kids kept at least 100m away to watch. They have been banned in Oz since about 1970, with good cause. The Chinese stuff they sell downstairs in Kad Luang (Worowat Market) often has over 200+ grams of compressed gunpowder and often with old dodgy fuzes. Gunpowder breaks down with time, so the burning time of a fuze can suffer delay if old.

Sad way to go for a chap who from all reports was a very nice bloke. 

[tandor]

3 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Geeze, I wouldn't have thought that would have killed someone.

Shouldn't be letting them off in the small soi.

 

...and they whinge and moan because they have no money...geez!

[mauGR1]

Some 30 years ago a faulty firework rocketed very close to my eyes, i could have easily lost an eye, since then, i've never been too close to that stuff.

Bad luck for the English man, sometimes s**t happens.

RIP