Nine Phuket students given anesthesia after suffering from Khao Lak 'curse'

[webfact]

Nine Phuket students given anesthesia after suffering from Khao Lak 'curse'
Phuket Gazette

PHUKET: -- Nearly two dozen Phuket students were rushed to Patong Hospital this morning after they collapsed screaming and convulsing during morning assembly – three out of the nine students who were administered anesthesia by doctors at the hospital remain there.

According to reports, the culprit seems to be a ghost in the tourist haven Khao Lak who was offended by a girl putting her sarong in an “inappropriate place”.

The students, 21 girls and one boy between 13 and 15 years old, collapsed into their screaming frenzy while at morning assembly at Wat Suwan Khiri Wongwere School (Wat Patong School – map here) at about 8:20am.

A teacher at the school who declined to be named told the Phuket Gazette that all of the students affected were taken to Khao Lak on a Scouts camping trip on Friday.

The troop returned yesterday.

“While we were on the camping trip, one of the girls hung her sarong in an inappropriate place,” he said, declining to be more specific about where the sarong was placed.

“Later, other students reported seeing what seemed to be a woman sitting on that girl’s shoulders.”

“While we were in Khao Lak, I even had a dream in which a voice told me to take the girl back to where she hung her sarong and apologize,” said the teacher.

“But I ignored the dream. It didn’t make sense… Then this happened this morning,” the teacher said.

Dr Sirichai Silapa-archa, director of Patong Hospital, told the Gazette, “They were all in shock. They were hyperventilating, so we calmed them down and aided in slowing their breathing.”

Thirteen of the students were released from the hospital before lunch, but the other nine were still screaming and convulsing, he said.

“We had to put them under general anesthesia so they could sleep and recover while they were unconscious,” said Dr Sirichai.

After the nine children woke, doctors discharged six of them this afternoon, but are keeping three of them at the hospital under observation.

“They are still very weak. We have them on saline drips, and expect to discharge them tomorrow morning,” he added.

School director Pratheep Musikaeow this afternoon was unavailable for comment.

The Gazette has yet to determine whether or not school authorities will question students to determine if the incident this morning was a genuine case of simultaneous mass possession or a hoax.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Nine-Phuket-students-given-anesthesia-after-suffering-from-Khao-Lak-curse-21510.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2013-07-01

[gl555]

Or it could be some very good sh#t they smoked!

[joeaverage]

good lord, this story is so wrong on so many levels.

[Nowhereman60]

Very good diagnosis by the doctor. What else could it be.

[Thaddeus]

Shrooms of wiggle room on this one.

[retell]

Or it could be some very good sh#t they smoked!

sounds more like mushrooms

[Guest]

Or it could be some very good sh#t they smoked!

If they had campfire, maybe someone dropped something in to the fire.

[ozymandious]

Pha hahahaha

[GarryP]

Mass hysteria.

[NamKangMan]

Bed Bug spray.

[Payboy]

I reserve my comments until I see a photo of the "inappropriate place".

[bubblegum]

9 or 3 how many

a sarong was placed

in an inappropriate place

on top of her face ?

[waza]

OMB Amazing Thailand has become the twilight zone

[ava15]

Some great laughs to be had reading the news today.

A+, would read again.

[Pomthai]

And people wonder why this place isn't taken seriously. Where else in the world is anesthetizing kids to calm them down acceptable? As the saying goes, ya couldn't make it up...

[Jasun]

one boy, one inappropriate sarong.

[Songhua]

'Principal, principal, the darn kids are on drugs again'

'OK, we need to come up with a credible scenario. How about this ... a ghost sat on someone's shoulder and the rest of 'em got possessed?'

[gosompoi]

Happy April fools day to all! Oops it isn't April 1st it is July 1st! Guess I am suffering from anesthesia exposure!

[BeforeTigers]

Sounds like the "laughing sickness" in Kenya.
http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/extra/laughing_malady.txt

Basically psychosomatic group hysteria.
That doctor should be in prison for giving children unnecessary anesthesia.

[LivinginKata]

Some great laughs to be had reading the news today.

A+, would read again.

I have read that news article a few times and none it makes any sense to me

[Shaunduhpostman]

Convulsions and screaming frenzies were normal reactions to the monotony of being at school back home stateside when I was a wee nipper. Good fun and a good cardio workout actually.

[Thaddeus]

There are two bad things about this story.

Either no qualified Doctor at some point said "are you having a laugh"

and.

If one did, it didn't get reported.

I know which one is worst, and I seriously hope it's the second one that happened.

[webfact]

22 Phuket schoolkids in mass hysteria outbreak
Prapaporn Jitmaneeyaphan


Dr Sirichai: ‘Mass psychogenic illness’

PHUKET: -- Twenty two schoolchildren aged 13 to 15 were taken to Patong hospital for treatment after they collapsed screaming and crying at morning assembly today (July 1) at Wat Suwankeereewong School in Patong.

Dr Sirichai Silpa-archa, director of Patong Hospital, said that he first heard about the incident from the Narenthorn Emergency Center, which informed him that one boy and 21 girls had been affected.

At the hospital staff calmed them down, though some of the more serious cases, suffering from anxiety, seizures, muscle spasms or hyperventilation, were given Valium to calm them down.

Psychiatrists were also drafted in to talk to the children.

Health staff found that this was the second time in four days that this group had experienced mass hysteria. On Friday (June 28) they were on a visit to the Anti-Narcotics Training Project at Chulabhorn Marine Park Conservation Centre in Thap Lamu, Phang-Nga.

After their outbreak of screaming there, they had to be taken to hospital in Phang Nga but all appeared to recover quite quickly.

However, this morning, something once again sparked off the hysterics at a perfectly normal morning ceremony at the school.

Today, 13 of the students were released and told to go home, another six were also released but were told to call the hospital if they felt strange again, while three remain in hospital for observation.

Dr Sirichai characterised the incidents as “mass psychogenic illness”.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/22-phuket-schoolkids-in-mass-hysteria-outbreak-40561.php


-- Phuket News 2013-07-02

[whybother]

OK. Valium, not "anaesthesia". Makes a bit more sense.

"they were on a visit to the Anti-Narcotics Training Project" "Dr Sirichai characterised the incidents as “mass psychogenic illness”."

And they decide it was caused by ghosts?!?!

[gosompoi]

Attension seeking kids turn into = Drug seeking children & children seeking drugs!

[asiamaster]

[bangarang]

My money is on Mushrooms, the one boy, and the Inappropriate place having something to do with his little Chang.

[PlastikbinLina]

Mass hysteria.

Yes absolutely no doubt about that, but in all my 35 years living in SEA ghosts for all gender types and levels of education, are a reality and you cannot convince them otherwise. I can tell you many stories of frightened locals trying to convince me not to go on certain roads at night for fear of seeing faceless aparitions, not to live near cemetries, to place candles around my home to keep the sneaky bastards at bay, to see the local sooth sayer for protection and advice etc etc. It's all part of the furniture here and it's a laugh.

[Nowhereman60]

I guess it was a good way to get a day off from classes. Ferris Bueller would have been proud of them.

[gosompoi]

Mass hysteria.

Yes absolutely no doubt about that, but in all my 35 years living in SEA ghosts for all gender types and levels of education, are a reality and you cannot convince them otherwise. I can tell you many stories of frightened locals trying to convince me not to go on certain roads at night for fear of seeing faceless aparitions, not to live near cemetries, to place candles around my home to keep the sneaky bastards at bay, to see the local sooth sayer for protection and advice etc etc. It's all part of the furniture here and it's a laugh.

My home is on a 54 rai old cemetery which they say all the bodies have been removed. Like I believe Thai would tell me the truth or do anything 100%. But I discovered this when dealing with voids under our foundation. No problems with Thai ghosts just the living ones.