3 serious, airlifted from Pha-ngan

Health Minister Jurin seeks more rescue boats for Surat Thani

Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit yesterday ordered the Emergency Medical Institute of Thailand to send a helicopter to transport three seriously ill people out of flood-hit Koh Pha-ngan Hospital to better-equipped facilities and asked for 20 more rescue boats to assist flood victims in Surat Thani.

Meanwhile, the National Coordination Centre for Flood Relief (NCCFR) considered requesting Bt15 billion from the Cabinet next Monday to assist about 300,000 families affected by flooding in the South.

Jurin said a 40-year-old man with heart failure, a woman who was bleeding after a miscarriage, and a man with a serious spine injury from a road accident were airlifted safely. The first two were sent to Koh Samui Hospital, and the accident victim to Surat Thani Hospital.

Thai authorities' mission to aid stranded tourists at Koh Tao in Surat Thani's Koh Pha-ngan district - using four helicopters, two inflatable boats and a landing craft - managed to evacuate at least 600 people on to the helicopter-carrier HTMS Chakri Naruebet to Prachuap Khiri Khan's Bang Saphan district yesterday.

1,000 TO BE RESCUED

During their journey to the shore in this large, impressive vessel, the evacuees were served a hot meal of fried garlic-and-pepper pork and fried eggs. The Chakri Naruebet will return today to rescue another 1,000 people stranded there.

In the meantime, about 500 tourists stranded on Tarutao and other islands off the Satun coast were rescued by a chartered speedboat, while another 300-500 people were willing to stay on Li Pe Island at resorts as food and supplies were sufficient, Tarutao National Park chief Phairoj Homchuay said.

He did not specify how many had returned to the mainland. He named the other three islands as Adang Rawee, Bulone, and Li Pe, where naval officers based there were monitoring the situation and taking care of the tourists, while prohibiting small boats from going out because of high seas.

NCCFR deputy director Vittayen Muttamara said the agency might initially ask for Bt15 billion to assist about 300,000 affected families but this had not been confirmed yet depending on whether the rain persists.

Agencies are gathering disaster reports and complaints via 1111 and 0-2141-6588 around the clock and information collected with Google Maps and Small Multi-Mission Satellite technologies will be forwarded to central agencies and in those in the affected areas.

Thailand Post Co also opened the phone number 0-2831-3333 to coordinate transport of donated items to the South.