Thousands of merit-makers bless 100 Buddhist monks with scented water yesterday at Wat Suwanrangsan in Rayong’s Ban Chang district. The ceremony, held each year on April 18, is a major Songkran activity on the Eastern Seaboard.

Twenty-nine per cent of vendors taking part in a survey had sold alcohol during prohibited periods during the week-long Songkran holiday, Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla said yesterday.

Between April 11 and 17, the Disease Control Office Region carried out random checks at 967 shops in 19 provinces to find out whether they were selling alcohol outside the permitted hours from 11am to 2pm and from 5pm to midnight.

Although most cooperated with alcohol control measures, 29 per cent of vendors sold alcohol at all hours - almost double those surveyed during the New Year, Mongkol said.

Some vendors broke the law intentionally because they wanted to make money, as alcohol was popular among Songkran revellers, said deputy director-general of the Disease Control Department Narong Sahamethapat.

Some vendors claimed they had sold alcohol "unintentionally" because they were "not informed" by the authorities or had misunderstood it was only for shops on highways or applied only to whiskey, he added.

Khon Kaen - which also topped the holiday list of road casualties with 16 deaths - was found to have the highest amount of vendors selling alcohol during prohibited times

at 89 per cent, followed by Nakhon Si Thammarat at 84 per cent and Songkhla at 61 per cent.

Songkhla was also found to have the most vendors selling alcohol near prohibited sites at 65 per cent, followed by Nakhon Si Thammarat at 42 per cent and Khon Kaen at 40 per cent, Narong said.

As for 1,019 "prohibited locations" including gas stations, schools and religious sites, the officials found that 180 sites - mostly gas stations at 23 per cent, those near temples at 10 per cent and those near schools at 9 per cent - were selling alcohol, Mongkol said.

Categorised by road type, alcohol-selling breaches were found on secondary roads at 24 per cent followed by main roads at 16 per cent, he added.

Mongkol said he would work with related agencies to ensure the laws were strongly reinforced as the Songkran holiday had seen high road casualties resulting mostly from drunk driving.