THE reported death of a female student at Rajabhat University in Chiang Rai turned out to be a cruel hoax, with the student posing for a ''death'' photograph. There has been one actual death recorded so far.


PHUKET: A 6.1 magnitude earthquake rocked Chiang Rai province tonight, leading to mass evacuations, huge cracks in roadways and the wrecking of many buildings, including temples.

No deaths were initially reported but aftershocks were feared.

Concern spread with reverberations through five provinces and the trembling could be felt as far away as Bangkok.

Tonight Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation officials were still assessing the damage, the biggest earthquake in Thailand since Phuket was rocked with a less significant tremblor in 2012.

The quake came at 6.08pm at a depth of 10 kilometres, with the epicentre under Chiang Rai's Pan district.