absolutelyBangkok archive · Being farang
Originally published May 7, 2009
Glorious kingdom. Today’s news alert by Thaivisa contained three teasers leading to stories, well… Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra was right on target in the recent Spiegel interview when he assured that “in Thailand, the law of the jungle prevails.” And you expect harmony?
The first story linking to the Phuket Gazette is a kind of mild: “Mystery illness kills foreign tourists on Phi Phi.” Concludes the paper: “Poisoned drinks, faulty air conditioning, carbon monoxide and chemicals from a water treatment plant near the guesthouse have all been mentioned as possible causes.”
The second story
“Patpong vendors clash with pirate good police” is only surprising because shots were fired and tourists ran for cover. But now get this, the third story:
Containers full of bodies reported discovered off the coast of Sattahip. Why does Thailand never seize to amaze.
Pattaya One News has some background:
Containers full of bodies reported to have been discovered off the coast of Sattahip A disturbing story now from Sattahip District involving the discovery of containers thought to contain dead bodies. The story first broke last week on Thai TV Channel 3 following the discovery of a container surrounded by reportedly hundreds of skeletons. This discovery was made almost two months ago but remained a closely guarded secret until the story was leaked to the press last week. We understand that a total of 8 containers have been found in three separate locations between Phie Island and Pram Island and 30 nautical miles off the Coast of Juang Island which are all located in the Gulf of Thailand. For many years fishermen have reported the capture of skeletal remains in their fishing nets, however many cases have remained unreported. There is a suggestion some of the containers have been at the locations for up to 20 years. Now that the exact locations of the containers have been identified and a full report has been made to the Police, it is thought these containers will now be recovered and the contents will be revealed. Locals fear the worse and suggest the containers are full of bodies, but this cannot be confirmed until the containers are recovered. We will follow this story and update you when new information is received by us.
Twenty years… that covers quite some ground.
Could be anyone’s grave.
But guess what, we will never know whose grave it is and why they died.
It’s just one of those peculiarities about Thailand.
Once you’d start asking questions you could bring down the whole place.
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