Flights, ferry services resume in Thailand as Pabuk slows
BANGKOK: Thailand resumed flights on Saturday to its southern provinces, as the first tropical storm in 30 years slowed and headed into the Andaman Sea, leaving behind a trail of homes damaged by fallen trees or blown-off roofs, and disrupted power networks.
Before tropical storm Pabuk hit land in Nakhon Si Thammarat on Friday, arriving from the Gulf of Thailand, airports had shut in the province and nearby Surat Thani and the holiday island of Koh Samui, with all flights cancelled.
But on Saturday, the storm lost speed and was downgraded to a depression as it moved off land, weather officials said, although they maintained warnings of torrential rain and possible flash floods in nine provinces.
“The strong winds are forecast with waves up to 3 to 5 meters high in both the Gulf and in the Andaman Sea,” the Thai Meteorological Department said in a statement, urging ships to keep to shore and highlighting the risk of sudden water surges.
Bangkok Airways, which has a monopoly at the Koh Samui airport, resumed normal operations early on Saturday and added extra flights to assist stranded passengers.
The airports at Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani will resume operations at noon.
Most ferry services to Thailand’s southern holiday islands have resumed following suspension for the storm.
Over the past few days, more than 28,000 people have been evacuated into shelters across seven provinces, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said in a daily tally on Saturday.
Authorities have recorded just one death, after a fishing boat capsized in strong winds near the coast of Pattani province, leaving another of the crew missing, though four more were safe.
PTT Exploration and Production
Britain warns on travel to southern India after temple unrest The strong winds are forecast with waves up to 3 to 5 metres high in both the Gulf and in the Andaman Sea. Thai Meteorological Department
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India: Britain on Saturday warned tourists visiting the southern Indian state of Kerala after sporadic violence in recent days over the admission of women to one of Hinduism’s holiest temples.
In updated travel advice, London advised UK nationals in Kerala, popular with tourists particularly at this time of year, to ‘monitor media reports closely, remain vigilant and avoid large public gatherings’.
The Sabarimala temple has been at the centre of a prolonged showdown between traditionalists and authorities since September, when India’s top court overturned a ban on women of menstruating age — deemed as those aged 10 to 50 — setting foot inside.
After several weeks of hardliners preventing women from accessing the hilltop temple, at times violently, earlier this week two women managed to sneak inside before dawn and become the first to worship there since the landmark ruling.
A third woman from Sri Lanka said she entered the temple on Thursday night but this was disputed by the temple authorities, who performed a ‘purification’ ritual after the two other women made their way into the shrine.
The entry of the women has sparked days of clashes across Kerala involving enraged Hindu devotees, riot police using tear gas and water cannon, and activists from Kerala’s leftist state government — which supports the entry of women.
One man died and almost 300 people have been injured including more than 100 police officers and some 10 journalists, police say. More than 3,000 protesters have either been arrested or taken into preventive custody. Police said Saturday that unidentified attackers hurled a homemade bomb at the home of a politician from the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and set ablaze the office the hardline Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) group. — APFP Pcl, a unit of state-owned PTT, said it expected to resume operations of oil rigs at Bongkot and Erawan, two of Thailand’s biggest gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand, on Sunday.
It had suspended operations there since Monday and brought staff inland. — Reuters