Thai Queen assists southern bomb victims

BANGKOK, April 3 (TNA) - Her Majesty Queen Sirikit assigned Secretary-General of Thai Red Cross Society Pan Wannamethee to deliver royal gift sets to victims of a spate of car bombings in Thailand's southernmost Yala Province last Saturday. Some 14 people were killed and more than 500 were injured in the string of car bombing attacks, two of them took place in the provincial seat of Yala and another in the basement of the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Songkhla province’s Hat Yai district. Also today, Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, social welfare advisor to the Malaysian Prime Minister, visited four Malaysians who were injured in the Hat Yai car bombing. Azeez was received by Hat Yai Mayor Prai Pattano and he and Malaysian journalists were then taken to witness the first floor of the 33-storey Lee Garden Plaza Hotel, which was damaged by last Saturday car bombing. Around 20 Malaysian tourists’ cars were still parked at the hotel’s car park in the basement. Azezz said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is concerned over the bombing incidents and has sent him and ambulances to pick up the Malaysian victims, who will then be taken back to Malaysia for further medical treatment. Prai acknowledged that authorities are continuing to gather evidence at the bombing scene and removing all cars from the parking lot, before installing an electrical system there to facilitate officials working inside, saying a preliminary examination showed that the hotel's structure remains strong although two surface areas in the car park were severely damaged and the hotel's overall car park needs to be demolished and reconstructed. According to the Thai Ministry of Labour, families of the dead victims of the March 31's car bombing attacks who were insured under the ministry‘s Social Security Fund will receive a cash compensation and a funeral grant of 40,000 baht each. Meanwhile, Songkhla Governor Krisda Boonraj said authorities will offer a cash reward of 500,000 baht each against two suspected car bombers if they were arrested, with the money to be given to those providing tip-offs leading to the arrests, after a footage of close-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) showed the two suspects walking outside the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel from its car park before the explosions erupted. Prapas Intanaprasat, Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Hat Yai Office, noted that more than 40 per cent of Malaysian tourists have cancelled their room reservation in Hat Yai over this coming weekend subsequently, but there has been no cancellation of hotel rooms during the upcoming traditional Thai New Year or Songkran Festival in mid-April. (TNA)