NEWS BITES

MARATHON OVERSTAYER CAUGHT

IMMIGRATION: A French national was taken into custody in Samut Prakan on Friday for staying in the country illegally for nearly 2,000 days, police said yesterday.

Pol Col Parinya Klinkesorn, acting chief of Samut Prakan immigration police, said the Frenchman was tracked down to a flat in Bang Phli district. The 40-year-old was identified as Hashem Hosem Phillippe and was found to have overstayed 1,935 days as of Friday.

The crackdown came after Samut Prakan immigration police and Bang Kaeo police joined up to survey the area for illegal migrants.

Those found to have overstayed their visas for more than five years will be banned from entering Thailand for 10 years, police said.

SKYDIVER PLUMMETS TO DEATH

CHON BURI: A Danish man has fallen to his death from a plane after his parachute jump in Sri Racha district went wrong, police said yesterday.

Stefan Eiriksson Andersen, 30, succumbed to severe wounds yesterday after being rushed to a hospital by rescuers who found him lying on the ground at an airfield near Nong Kho reservoir in tambon Thong Kham.

The parachute failed to open after the man jumped out of the plane, investigators said. Officers who oversaw his parachute jump insisted they had carefully checked the equipment before the man boarded the plane.

SMALL SCHOOLS GET HELP

EDUCATION: Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan yesterday pledged to provide better quality education at small schools across the country.

Speaking after visiting five small schools in Roi Et’s Thawatchaburi district, Mr Nataphol said he will discuss the matter with stakeholders at the Education Ministry who are drafting a development plan for the schools.

Mr Nataphol said some small schools are still substandard and need improvement. He said these schools in Roi Et will be used as examples of poorly managed schools.

At one school, he found only three teachers teach students in nine classes.

FOUR HURT IN GAS BLAST

SAMUT PRAKAN: Four scrap collectors were injured yesterday when an LPG cylinder used for a car exploded at a pavilion in Bang Sao Thong district after one of them tried to remove a cover bolt.

The explosion happened in Soi 14 at the Bang Phli Muang Mai housing estate in tambon Bang Sao Thong, said Pol Capt Vithoon Phengbuppa, deputy investigation chief at the Bang Sao Thong station, who was alerted at about 11.30am.

Three men and one woman suffered burns after an LPG cylinder had caught fire, which spread to the pavilion.

Firefighters managed to put out the blaze.