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The injured Phuket firefighter is carried out of the Patong resort last night

Phuket Sky Lantern Sparks 200,000 Baht Patong Resort Blaze and Ignites Fireworks Debate

Saturday, February 18, 2012
PHUKET: A fire that caused 200,000 baht damage and an injury to a firefighter at a Patong resort last night is being blamed on a falling sky lantern.

The blaze at the Impiana Phuket that left a firefighting staffer in Patong Hospital with a broken arm also ignited the fierce debate about illegal fireworks and crackers on Phuket's beaches.

A German tourist warned in a letter to Patong's police superintendent Colonel Arayapan Pukbuakao this week that the illegal Patong fireworks were dangerous and were driving tourists off Phuket.

Virtually Phuket's entire west coast from Kata through Karon and Patong to Kamala and Surin suffers from a fireworks frenzy as locals and some tourists enjoy lighting up the night with noise that other residents and tourists hate.

Last night's blaze paralysed traffic in Patong's one-way beach road and is likely to bring to a head the call for police to crackdown on crackers.

Four fire trucks were called to the blaze at the Impiana Phuket, one of Patong's original resorts, which is right on the beach and has been holiday host in the past to some of Malaysia's royals.

Firefighters believe the blaze was caused when a recalcitrant sky lantern of the kind sold illegally on Patong beach to tourists headed back to earth and chose to land on a thatch roof atop part of the resort's restaurant zone about 10pm.

In the chaos that followed, firefighting Impiana staffer Piranan Aunchyanon, 25, fell and broke an arm. Paramedics joined firefighters at the scene, treated Khun Piranan and then carried him to Patong Hospital.

Phuketwan readers have debated the merits of illegal fireworksd and crackers on Phuket's holiday west coast since we carried news of the German man's threat to move to Cambodia or Vietnam with his group of 16 friends who spend about 12 million baht a year in an extended Patong holiday.

The majority support fireworks on special occasions and for traditional Phuket festivals but say the illegal explosions have become so widespread, the German group are not the only regular Phuket tourists now considering alternatives.

Comments

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Illegal lanterns are very dangerous as they fly a long way and may put fire on nearby forests.

Posted by Whistle-Blower on February 18, 2012 10:00

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The lanterns also cause a lot of pollution. The metal framework will probably decay in salt water eventually, but the petrochemical covering will not. Turtles like to eat this as it looks like a jellyfish.

Posted by GiantFan on February 18, 2012 11:04

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It has long been a matter of great concern that vendors wander freely around the bars selling Chinese produced fireworks during certain holiday periods. Over the past 2 years, during visits to Phuket, I have seen: a 'mortar bomb' lit upside down, exploding on the ground, with damage within a radius of 20 meters - despite getting clothes scorched/burned, incredibly nobody seriously injured; rockets lit under power cables, hitting them with inevitable deflected results; strings of fire crackers lit on road surfaces, causing traffic to swerve or brake sharply. It is nothing short of a miracle that nobody has yet managed to blow up motor bikes parked close to the above incidents.

I don't believe anyone realises that the 'combs' (paper sky lanterns) are illegal as stated in your article. Certainly the police don't appear to know this, as the vendors were openly selling them at Loy Kratong in Karon, with police looking on. They were being launched from the beach by the dozens.

Posted by Logic on February 18, 2012 14:50

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drunk people make fireworks in 4 or 5 in morning on the beach, make me wake up every day

Posted by Koarl on February 18, 2012 21:46

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Who's getting the bungs from the firework vendors this time, how hard can it be to apprehend them they walk around Soi Bangla and the beach road all the time for god sake even Stevie Wonder could find them. get a grip officers.

Posted by Scunner on February 19, 2012 01:25


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