Thailand Live Saturday 4 Jun 2011

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Chart Thai Pattana leader Chumpol announces in Suphan Buri party won't join Pheu Thai and will keep pledge with Bhum Jai Thai /TAN_Network

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Abhisit campaigns in Phetchabun while Chuwit is in Lampang /TAN_Network

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Sunken sugar barge to be retrieved in next four days

BANGKOK, June 4 -- A barge carrying 2,400 tonnes of sugar which accidentally sunk in the Chao Phraya River in the central province of Ayutthaya near Bangkok on Tuesday will possibly be retrieved in the next four days, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti on Saturday.

Mr Suwit said he had ordered concerned government agencies yesterday to help solve the problem. For example, he said the Marine Department was told to build dykes to help divert the flow of the river from eroding the banks that had already destroyed a few houses there while the Royal Irrigation Department was instructed to reduce releasing water from the Chao Phraya Dam in Chai Nat province in order to reduce strong current.

It is expected that the barge could be salvaged in the next four days, he said, adding that earth would be filled in later to assist owners whose homes were damaged, while the provincial governor would contact the barge operator to pay compensation and repair damaged homes.

Meanwhile, Dr Paijit Warachit, permanent secretary for Public Health, urged people to avoid eating marine life which died from the polluted water because they had died “abnormally”.

Although the polluted water which is now entering Bangkok and surrounding provinces carries no toxic chemical or diseases, the marine lives died abnormally because of lack of oxygen.

Dr Paijit said if people insist on consuming the fish, they have to fully cooked them.

On public concerns of dissolved oxygen (DO) levels in the river following the accident, Wisit Wongwiwat, deputy governor of Metropolitan Waterworks Authority, said measurement was made yesterday evening after the polluted water passed through a processing station in Pathum Thani province and it was found that the DO level had dropped below normal levels. Oxygen later returned the river while experts were assigned to monitor the quality of the water round-the-clock.

By Thursday evening, the DO level was measured at 0.2 milligramme/litre (mg/L) and rose to above 1 mg/L after air was introduced into the water. After about 30 hours, the DO level rose above 2 mg/L and eventually increased to normal levels when the water reached Bang Khen water treatment plant in Bangkok, said Mr Wisit.

He said he believed the polluted water would now move toward the Gulf of Thailand and might impact river and marine life.

Permanent Secretary for Industry Witoon Simachokdee played down worries that sugar consumption in the country could be impacted following the accident, saying that the 2,400 tonnes of sugar aboard the barge is considered “very little” when compared to annual production in the country.

Sugarcane production in Thailand in 2011 is much higher than previously projected, said Mr Witoon. It was earlier estimated that the country could produce 66 million tonnes, but now the production is expected to reach between 94-94.5 million tonnes of which refined sugar production is projected to be around 9.57 million tonnes. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-06-04

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Lone robber uses fake gun to rob Thongthanet 2 gold shop in Phuket and got away with 200 baht weight of gold /TAN_Network

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Phuket Election: Cherng Talay votes for new mayor

An elderly woman is accompanied by her family as officers deny her being able to vote.

Although the woman was born in Cherng Talay and provided her house registration

document, she could not provide her ID card. Photo: Pimwara Choksakulpan

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Customs officials in Songkhla seize 7,190 tortoises worth more than Bt15 million smuggled in container truck driven by Malaysian enroute to China /MCOT

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Thailand Live Monday 6 June 2011

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