Songkran rescue calls almost triple last year

; prank calls mar

Calls by accident victims to the government's rescue centre in the first two days of the Songkran festival soared almost to 2,627 incidents, up sharply from only 971 calls during the same period of last year.

Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsup said that anonymous callers had made prank calls to the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) of Narenthorn Centre 2,753 times during the past two days and opened music or teased officials at the station.

Most of these callers used public telephones, he said.

Such callers could face imprisonment, and/or a maximum fine of Bt5,000 or both.

He added that harrassing prank calls could interfere with the opportunity to save lives of the people who may be blocked from reporting in the emergency incident.